Eddie Will Find Tonga Give Focus To His Men

England play their first match of the World Cup today against a Tongan team that will be strong, aggressive and direct but it should be the perfect game for Eddie Jones to start England’s campaign.

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The Pacific Island teams play some of the most aggressive rugby on the planet but are always at a disadvantage simply because, by losing so many players to teams across the world, they can never field a first choice team. Not just their star players, but also many of the bread and butter players you need to build and develop a strong international squad.

Unfortunately, the disparity in funding across the rugby world means that unlike any of the Tier 1 nation players, those from the Tier 2 countries playing in our leagues will have to make a choice. Whether to take a massive cut in salary to play for their home countries at the World Cup and potentially lose their jobs, or remain at the clubs to play in our leagues.

The double whammy is that rather than answering the call to represent their country, if they stay and qualify (under world rugby residency rules) they can end up getting paid a small fortune to go to the World Cup and could also play against their own country.

In this current commercial rugby world, the reasons for playing international rugby have become more complicated. Until the game went professional the ultimate achievement in the game was to play for your country. Clubs wanted their players to represent their countries and put no obstacles in the way, in fact encouraging players on the journey to international, but now it’s different.