Eddie Jones Exclusive: Maturing England are learning to embrace being favourites

Less than two weeks after lifting their second trophy of 2020, England know who their opponents will be for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. Eddie Jones' side have been drawn alongside Argentina and Japan as well as a side from Oceania and the Americas. Joining Brian Moore and co host Rob Vickerman to react to the draw is none other than the England head coach Eddie Jones, who speaks to the show to discuss how he plans on improving the side to ensure they can go one step further from their World Cup Final defeat back in 2019, and also to reflect on what's been a positive year for his side on the pitch amongst difficult circumstances off it. Elsewhere, the major story in the game over the last week has been the revelation that a number of former professional players have been diagnosed with early onset dementia and are pursuing legal action against the games authorities. We get Rob's take on what impact the potential legal action could have on the sport and also get his own personal account of his recent assessment. Podcast regular Nigel Owens also makes a long awaited return after confirming his official retirement from international rugby. He tells Brian and Rob why he felt it was right to retire now and how he plans to remain in the game in a different capacity. And as ever, as part of the Mitsubishi volunteer programme, we speak to the volunteers who have been working tirelessly during the last year to keep grassroots rugby alive during the Covid-19 pandemic. For 30 days' free access to the Telegraph: telegraph.co.uk/contact For more details about the Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer Recognition Programme with England Rugby visit https://www.englandrugby.com/participation/volunteers/mitsubishi-motors-volunteer-recognition-programme See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.