Eddie Jones had just announced his team for Saturday’s match against Japan when he sat down to field questions, scanned the room and caught sight of Ayumu Goromaru in the far corner. To recap, Goromaru was the goal-kicking full-back when Jones led the Brave Blossoms to the 2015 victory over South Africa which put in motion his appointment as England’s head coach a few months later.
Jones’s eyes lit up when he clocked Goromaru – glorified in Japan to the extent there was a lifesize bronze statue made in his honour and a baby giraffe named after him at Hamamatsu zoo – before slipping into Japanese with his former charge, in the room doing broadcast work. Here was both a reminder of Jones’s relationship with the country and of how and when he entered into English rugby’s wider consciousness seven years ago. Owen Farrell was reflecting on it this week too, recalling how he was listening to “the Brighton Miracle” on the radio before dashing in the front door to catch the final few moments on television.
