"Moved on" - Eddie Jones closes the door on a Vunipola recall

The England head coach caused a waves when he left out the likes of George Ford, Mako Vunipola and Billy Vunipola from his squad fo the Autumn Nations Series.

During the Series, Ford was ignored despite Farrell and Smith being ruled out at one point while he also called up 20-year-old Bevan Rodd instead of Mako for their clash against the Springboks.

When questioned on their futures, specifically Mako, Jones almost slammed the door shut before backtracking slightly.

"We've added some youth and enthusiasm. These young guys have added a lot to the squad I think," said Jones.

"I think we've moved on from the last World Cup and now we have four more campaigns before the 2023 World Cup.

"I'm very happy with the squad at the moment, we have a good balance and that's always very important.

"Of course they could force their way back in but they'd have to show the consistency that we demand."

Former England start Kyran Bracken was the first person to reveal why the Quins playmaker was mysteriously frozen out of Jones plans in 2018 despite being a regular up until that point.

“He (Care) made the mistake of speaking his mind to Eddie Jones and questioning how he wanted him to play when he was playing with an England ‘B’ team against Japan in the autumn of 2018,” revealed the former England scrum-half.

“Eddie’s response to that was ‘that’s not the attitude I want’ and he binned him from his plans.”

This story was later backed up by England and Harlequins teammate Mike Brown in his column for the Mail Online.

DID YOU KNOW? At age 11 he was invited to join the Academy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which meant giving up club rugby union for a fw years

Reports have suggested that the England prop has been left out of England squads of late due to the fact Jones doesn't believe he has enough left in him to reach the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He reportedly told Mako this in a heated discussion in August.

It's suggested the England boss wants to push on with Ellis Genge as his first choice moving forward and doesn't see Vunipola coming back into his plans in the future.

Brown revealed in his column recently: ‘I’d had one of my best seasons for Quins (2018/19) with really good attacking stats (2019), but Eddie had pigeon-holed me as a defensive full-back. At the end of this meeting, he asked if I had anything I wanted to say.

“I challenged his comments that I was just a defensive full-back, saying I thought I had been adding value to the attack, with examples and stats from my season, before saying I would take away all of his points and that I would do everything I could to get into the World Cup squad.

“He did not like that I had contested what he said and went mad. He shouted: ‘Well you lost the f****** ball in contact on Saturday, didn’t you? That’s f****** not good enough. You’re not f****** doing everything you can.'”

Ultimately, Brown wouldn’t be picked for the Rugby World Cup with Jones saying that his clash with teammate Ben Te’o had nothing to do with his omission. He’s not been picked since.

DID YOU KNOW? He married long term partner, fashion designer Eliza Scarlett Woodcock, the daughter of former England international footballer Tony Woodcock in 2016

Jones wrote in his autobiography that the Sarries legend ‘could not match the pace and snarl of his long-term rival Mike Brown.’

However, according to Brown’s column for the Mail Online, Goode clashed with Jones over this opinion in a heated discussion which led to him being jarsj frozen out of the squad after 2016.

The fullback would never win a recall despite being named the 2019 European Player of the Year.

DID YOU KNOW? He is the nephew of Jo Goode, who won an Olympic bronze in Badminton in Sydney.

Kiwi-born England hooker Dylan Hartley recalled Marland Yarde arriving at England’s Pennyhill base, “a bit bruised and battered” after a club game.

“Eddie greeted him with a bright ‘How are you feeling, mate?’ and the conversation quickly went downhill. ‘Oh, a bit tired.’ ‘F… off, mate.’ ‘What?’ ‘If you’re tired, f… off. I don’t want tired players here.’ As you can imagine, their cosy fireside chat echoed around the halls within minutes.”

He never played for England again.