Rugby World Cup 2019: Eddie Jones puts faith in youth as England launch campaign

“You can’t win anything with kids,” Alan Hansen famously bellowed in a takedown of Manchester United after their 3-1 defeat by Aston Villa 24 years ago. Clearly, nobody told Eddie Jones.

On Friday morning, Jones named England’s second-youngest starting XV at a Rugby World Cup, with an average age of just 26 years and 170 days – a number that is drastically lowered by 21-year-old Tom Curry who will become England’s third youngest World Cup player after Manu Tuilagi and Joe Cokanasiga.

With seven players aged 26 or younger, Jones has doubled-down on his initial squad selection by backing youth over experience, having axed a number of established players last month. While this is very much his strongest available squad – with Mako Vunipola and Jack Nowell unavailable through injury – it is still something of a gamble to include so many young players.

A further four players feature among the replacements who fall into that age bracket, and while the opening match against Tonga will not be the be all and end all of England’s campaign, but when the bigger tests arrive in the form of Argentina and France, will they have the mental strength to see out the match?

We’ve seen in the past how England have struggled in this department. Jones’s side should have beaten Wales in the Six Nations last February, only to slip from a dominant position to defeat that cost them the championship. Barely a month later, England saw a 31-0 lead over Scotland unravel spectacularly at Twickenham that saw Owen Farrell’s leadership questioned and the team’s mental aptitude to retain control under pressure heavily criticised.

It is worth remembering – stressing even – that Farrell is just one year into his reign as international captain. The initial plan for Dylan Hartley to lead this side to Japan morphed last year into a co-captaincy with Farrell, and had a knee injury not struck the hooker down, he surely would have added more than 100 caps to this squad.

But as it is, Jones will stick by the kids – who he firmly believes are the right players to lead England to World Cup glory.

"It is what it is. This is the best squad we've got for England. I'm not concerned about any lack of experience,” he said. "What I'm delighted with is the way we've prepared for this World Cup. We've had a seven week-preparation, we've asked the players for a lot of commitment, a lot of hard work and that's what they've got. They've been absolutely superb in preparing for this tournament. They've worked hard, physically I haven’t seen the side any better than they are at the moment and off the field they've worked really hard to be a tight team.

“And that's going to be tested in the World Cup because the World Cup is like a rollercoaster. We are at the top of the ride now, we are looking down – everyone's nervous, everyone's excited. You get down the first slope, you are not sure if you are going to throw up or hang on.

"You've got to adapt to that and the players have equipped themselves to ride the rollercoaster because there's going to be some turns, there's going to be some accidents, there's going to be some fun. We want to enjoy all of those things that come along and the team's equipped to handle it."

If his young squad proves capable of handling the rollercoaster ahead, English rugby may just be on the cusp of a golden generation giving the young ages of those involved. However, if they crack under pressure once again, by picking this side the crosshairs will now be aimed solely at the man in charge. Jones’s rollercoaster ride is only just departing.