England vs France: Eddie Jones unconcerned by absence of French players for Autumn Nations Cup final

Eddie Jones says the unavailability of France’s 25 best players will not impact his side’s preparations ahead of England’s Autumn Nations Cup final.

France counterpart Fabien Galthie has just three of the matchday squad that beat England earlier this year available for Sunday’s final at Twickenham, with an agreement with the French clubs restricting players to a maximum of three appearances this autumn.

With the likes of captain Charles Ollivon, scrum-half Antoine Dupont and impact centre Virimi Vakatawa all unavailable, France go into the game as heavy underdogs against a side that has won seven from seven games since they lost the Stade De France clash between these two nations at the start of the year, and who is only a year on from reaching a Rugby World Cup final.

But Jones is determined not to let the absence of those players affect the occasion for his side this weekend, given they have had to fight their way past Georgia, Ireland and Wales in consecutive weekends to get to this stage.

“We’re looking forward to the game, we’re so excited about it,” Jones said. “We’ve worked hard for nine weeks to get to this position.

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“We can’t control what the opposition puts out there, we’re not even worrying about it. You know whatever side France puts out is going to be competitive, they’re going to be tough, they’ve won the last two under-20 World Cups so they have plenty of good players and we’re not concerned about that one iota – it’s out of our control.

“We don't care who they put out there. All we can do is play to our best. We're worried about our performance and how we can improve that.”

The match comes 13 months on from England’s World Cup final defeat by South Africa. The loss in Yokohama has frequently been referenced by the camp as the motivation behind their determination to improve to a level where they are the best team in the world, given that just a week on from their brilliant victory over New Zealand, England were roundly outclassed by the Springboks.

“In a championship week, the final week is always the greatest learning week.” Jones added when drawing on the lessons of 2019. “You learn a lot about yourselves, about your teammates, about how you operate as a team.

“We've had one unsuccessful final in the last 13 months so we've learned from that and we'd like to put our learnings into practise this week.”

While France will be without their biggest names, England are likely to be forced into minimal changes, although one that will certainly be required is replacing Jonathan Joseph on the wing after he was ruled out of the match due to a calf injury. However, with Anthony Watson back at full fitness following his return off the bench against Wales, Jones faces a rather straightforward decision.

The Australian did elect to bring in new blood to the squad this week though in the form of Wasps youngster Alfie Barbeary, who received his maiden call up fewer than three months since making his first Wasps start in the Premiership and has featured both in the front row and the back row in a display of his versatility.

However, the 20-year-old looks almost certain to be sent back to his club on Wednesday.

“He's got to work hard,” Jones explained. “He's a young lad coming in so he's shining boots, picking up forks and spoons, doing all the apprentice work.

“He's got a long way to go before he plays Test rugby, but he's certainly a player of potential and we're looking forward to him training this week - for us he's a hooker.”