Eddie Jones may be looking to ‘experiment’ with Nations Cup matches but Sir Clive Woodward believes Jacob Umaga makes too many mistakes to warrant a place in the England side.
“He makes a lot of mistakes and often in clusters,” wrote Woodward.
“Against Exeter in the rain, he was standing much too far away from scrum-half Dan Robson and too far away from his inside centre Jimmy Gopperth, and as a result his handling and passing suffered.
“Umaga’s time will come, he has X factor, but on current form Joe Simmonds is clearly ahead. Indeed, some would argue that Harlequins’ Marcus Smith, who was on fire at the end of the season, is also ahead of him.
“None of this will be a problem against Italy on Saturday when Umaga will probably come on with the game won against a tiring defence. But you don’t often get that luxury in Test rugby. We won’t learn a huge amount.”
England fans pick their XV to face Italy in Six Nations final
RUCK asked over 2,000 supporters who they would choose to start for England this weekend, and there are some surprising results that head coach Eddie Jones might not agree with.
Scroll through the article below to see which players are most popular among fans ahead of this weekend’s trip to Rome
BACK-THREE
- Fullback: Anthony Watson (Bath RFC)
- Joe Cokanasiga (Bath RFC)
- Jonny May (Gloucester)
CENTRES
- Outside-centre: Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
- Inside-centre: Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
