You’re hired!
England’s rugby coach, Eddie Jones, has gone all Sir Alan Sugar — or even Donald Trump in an earlier life — and recruited a couple of apprentices for the upcoming Autumn international matches.
Instead of naming the usual 32-man squad, Jones will take 34 players on a training camp to Portugal ahead of the three games against Argentina, Australia and Samoa.
Harlequins fly-half, Marcus Smith, 18, and Bath’s number eight, Zach Mercer, 20, are the lucky youngsters tagging along for the ride with the national team.
They will not be available for selection for the matches but they will be involved in England’s training and preparation for the matches and perhaps a few more mundane tasks too that are usually thrown the way of apprentices as they make their way in the world.
“Well you’ve got apprentices in your office,” joked Jones at a media conference in London on Thursday.
“They make the tea, they get the paper when they need some paper, they get the paper clips so, yeah, they’ll make the tea, get people’s boots, put out the cones, chase balls and practice a little bit at the right time.
“They’ve got to earn their stripes.”
They might be making the odd cup of tea, but Smith and Mercer will be treated as any other squad player in terms of payment and their respective clubs will be remunerated for the time they spend with the national team.
They will also get the opportunity to see at close hand a group of players that under Jones, who was appointed in 2015, has won 19 out of 20 games since succeeding Stuart Lancaster.
An Australian, the 57-year-old Jones previously coached a number of leading club sides as well as Australia and Japan.
Pecking order
Teenager Smith, who is being touted as the next Jonny Wilkinson — England’s 2003 World Cup winning star player — was born in the Philippines, raised in Singapore and only moved to England five years ago.
This will be his second experience with the national team after being taken on their three-day pre-season camp in Oxford last month.
He has been on Jones’ radar for a couple of years.
In the build up to the 2015 World Cup, when he was still Japan coach, Jones watched a 16-year-old Smith play for Brighton College against Sussex and stayed to chat to him after the game.
There are still four more players ahead of him in the pecking order for his position but the England coach is looking forward to watching him develop over the next few months.
“He’s courageous, he makes good decisions, he’s got a good passing, kicking, running game,” Jones said of Smith who became the second youngest player to make his English Premiership debut this season.
“He’s got everything there to be a good player but he’s got to learn about the game, he’s got a long way to go physically.
“[Zach] Mercer’s a bit the same. His natural attributes are outstanding. He needs to work harder off the ball but he’s definitely worth investing in and that’s why we’ve got these two guys in, to invest in them and they’re players for the future of English rugby.
“Now whether their futures are the 2019 World Cup will just be dependent on their progress.”
Asked whether they Smith and Mercer could force their way into the squad soon enough to make an appearance in the next three games, Jones quipped: “Depends on how well they make the tea …”