Eddie Jones’s men need to show they can live without Manu Tuilagi by carving out a restorative win at Twickenham
One day England will play Wales at Twickenham without a full-blown global crisis gathering momentum. Two years ago the Covid-19 curtain was on the verge of crashing down, and this week’s grim events in Ukraine have put the travails of sport into similarly sharp perspective. Even on the biggest days there are more important outcomes in life than the result of a rugby game.
However, once the last notes of the anthems have floated upwards and a minute’s applause has been conducted in memory of Evesham RFC’s Jack Jeffery, who died recently while playing in a club match, there will be a brief opportunity for temporary escapism. The nerves and pent-up emotions felt by all players have to be funnelled somewhere. The question, as ever, is which of the two teams can best handle the pressure and thrive on it.
