| Venue: Twickenham Stadium Date: Saturday, 14 November Kick-off: 15:00 GMT |
| Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds with live text on the BBC Sport website and app. |
England wing Jonny May says head coach Eddie Jones has set them the “exciting” challenge of becoming the best team to have ever played before Saturday’s meeting with Georgia at Twickenham.
Gloucester’s May said the Six Nations champions had also been urged to become a team that wins 90% of games.
The match against the Eastern Europeans is England’s first of four in the Autumn Nations Cup.
“Since the World Cup Eddie has set us a couple of targets,” May told the BBC.
“He spoke about us being the best team that has ever played the game.
“That is one of our targets and the other is to go from an 80% winning team to a 90% winning team.
“They are big goals to go after so they are exciting challenges to be a part of.”
Six Nations champions England are heavy favourites to win as the two sides face each other for the first time outside of a World Cup.
But May insists the hosts are prepared for a tough challenge, with their opponents looking to cause an upset.
“I think they’ll be excited to play in this tournament,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“A big game at Twickenham – probably the biggest game of their lives for a lot of them.”
Twickenham without fans
It may be a big game for the Georgians, but they will not be given the usual Twickenham welcome with the match being played behind closed doors.
Usually at this time of year southern hemisphere sides travel north for a series of fixtures but because of the pandemic rugby has had to innovate.
The result is the Autumn Nations cup – a one-off tournament where eight teams compete in two pools before final matches for placings on the first weekend of December.
With the match being played in an empty stadium, former international scrum-half Danny Care says there will be “pressure on players to entertain”.
“I don’t know what to expect because it’s different and there’s going to be no fans,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Rugby Union Weekly.
“International rugby is not brilliant without fans so I hope we see some great rugby to get us really excited again.”
The Rugby Football Union has organised several activities as international rugby returns to Twickenham for the first time since March, including:
- Music chosen by the players, which the RFU said would make the stadium feel as if it is “theirs”
- Around 300 club shirts will be displayed in the stands to recognise the importance of grassroots clubs to the game
- A moment’s silence before kick-off to mark Remembrance Day
- Five virtual mascots introduced on the big screen
Forward or back?
New tournament, new England?
While head coach Jones has mostly been talking about the importance of tactical discipline, he also floated the idea of playing with nine forwards earlier this week.
Georgia’s pack are an intimidating prospect and coaching staff had to intervene when they attended England training in 2019 and a brawl broke out.
There has been talk in camp this week of “hybrid players”, with wing Ollie Thorley training with the forwards as they experiment with different styles of play.
Thorley was ultimately left out of the matchday 23, but that is not the only innovation that has been going on behind the scenes.
Footage emerged of England defence coach John Mitchell putting on an Italy shirt and scrum cap before the final game of the Six Nations and the New Zealander has been in Georgia gear ahead of this one.
“These days you are very conscious of presenting to this generation in many different mediums,” he said on Tuesday. “That just happens to be one medium that you can use.”
Players have been given licence to be a bit more adventurous too. Jonathan Joseph says Jones has given him “free rein” as he makes only his second start on the wing for England.
A Six Nations audition for Georgia?
Italy’s place in the Six Nations has been called into question for several years now.
The Azzurri have not won a Six Nations match since 2015 and are ranked 14th in the world, two places below Georgia.
With England playing the Eastern Europeans two weeks after beating Italy, there is some opportunity for comparison between the two sides.
But given Georgia have lost all but one of their 31 games against current tier one opponents, it would take a very impressive showing at Twickenham to give them Six Nations backing.
Line-ups
England: Daly; Joseph, Lawrence, Slade, May; Farrell (capt), Youngs; Genge, George, Stuart, Launchbury, Ewels, Itoje, Willis, B Vunipola.
Replacements: Dunn, M Vunipola, Sinckler, Earl, Curry, Robson, Malins, Marchant.
Georgia: Khmaladze; Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze (capt), Svanidze; Abzhandadze, Aprasidze; Nariashvili, Mamukashvili, Gigashvili, Jaiani, Kerdikoshvili, Saginadze, Tkhilaishvili, Gorgadze.
Replacements: Bregvadze, Gogichashvili, Kaulashvili, Giorgadze, Jalaghonia, Lobzhanidze, Tapladze, Todua.
| 14 November: England v Georgia, 15:00 GMT at Twickenham |
| 21 November: England v Ireland, 15:00 GMT at Twickenham |
| 28 November: Wales v England, 16:00 GMT at Parc y Scarlets |
| 6 December: Finals weekend – England v TBD, 14:00 GMT at Twickenham |
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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