Ellis Genge says “good bloke” Eddie Jones will “have tricks up his sleeve” and relish the occasion when he coaches Japan against England on Sunday.
Ex-England boss Jones will face his former side for the first time at Twickenham since he was sacked in 2022 and will be aiming to inflict a sixth straight defeat on the hosts.
England lost twice in New Zealand over the summer and are now 0-3 in the Autumn Nations Series at Allianz Arena, going down to the All Blacks, Australia and reigning world champions South Africa.
Jones – whose Japan team Steve Borthwick’s men defeated in Tokyo in June before embarking on this barren run – recently had his tenure as England coach called “toxic” by Danny Care.
Genge was awarded his international debut by Jones in 2016 and said of his former boss: “I like the bloke.
‘Jones a master of the psychological part of player development’
“He was always… not always actually, he wasn’t always nice to me, but we’ve got a good relationship.
“He’s a master of the psychological part of player development and man management. Sometimes he gets it wrong. There have been some nightmare stories of late about him. But he’s a good bloke.
“I can’t imagine he’s going to get a cheer when he goes on camera, but he’ll love that part of it. He’ll relish it. It will all be part of the day for him.
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England skipper Jamie George says Steve Borthwick is aiming to build a very different environment to his predecessor Jones
“He will probably have a few trick plays up his sleeve and knowing Eddie he will probably take the game very personally, which I love about him.
“He’s a brilliant coach and Japan are developing as a nation in terms of their rugby. They have improved so much. You have got to have your wits about you for sure.”
Genge: England are progressing as a team
Genge is also adamant that England are on the right track despite their narrow losses this month, the most recent of which was a 20-29 reverse against the Springboks a week ago.
Japan have obviously improved loads. They have a coach now we all know so well, they are a punchy side, and they move the ball well – although if it’s wet that might change things. It will be an exciting spectacle.
The prop added, ahead of what is expected to be a wet and windy game against Japan: “I think we have seen progress as a team.
“With our reviews, we are definitely seeing an upward curve, not necessarily in results but in trends and behaviours and how we are operating as a squad.
“It’s been good for us. We’ve tested ourselves against the best in the world and we’ve run them all very, very close.
“Everyone can look us in the eyes and say we should probably have won a few of those games. But the bottom line is we haven’t won a game yet.
“It would be nice to finish on a win. That’s what you go out to do in every game. But it’s not going to eradicate previous results.”
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James Cole believes England’s match against Jones’ Japan team could be a pivotal moment for head coach Borthwick
England team
15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Jamie George (captain), 3 Will Stuart, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Martin, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Harry Randall, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Tom Roebuck
Japan team
15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Tomoki Osada, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita, 11 Jone Naikabula, 10 Nicholas McCurran, 9 Naoto Saito (captain); 1 Takato Okabe, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 4 Sanaila Waqa, 5 Epineri Uluiviti, 6 Kanji Shimokawa, 7 Kazuki Himeno, 8 Faulua Makisi
Replacements: 16 Seung-hyuk Lee, 17 Yukio Morikawa, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Daichi Akiyama, 20 Tevita Tatafu, 21 Ben Gunter, 22 Shinobu Fujiwara, 23 Yusuke Kajimura
Watch every game of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, including all three Test matches against the Wallabies, exclusively live on Sky Sports.