There is an element of bluff and bluster to much of that which exits the mouth of Eddie Jones, but the veteran rugby schemer is a fascinating thinker, often ahead of the game. It was in November 2021, as he and England embarked on an ambitious attacking transformation, that Jones laid out a vision for the future in which the numbers on the back of his players’ shirts mattered little.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got to put fixed numbers on their backs,” Jones said after a win over Australia. “I’d prefer in rugby if we went to the basketball system, where players could pick a number at the start of the year and that’s their number. Even if you put them in their traditional numbers, it’s very rare that 12 passes to a 13 who passes to the wingers.
