TOKYO -- Billy Vunipola has spoken movingly about how England’s players have dealt with the demons left over from their disastrous 2015 World Cup as well as getting to know each other on a deeper level, as their 2019 campaign ramps up here this week. Tonga and the USA have been beaten with little fuss so far but results from now on will measure the success of a plan escalated by head coach Eddie Jones during the Six Nations, when two shocking second-half displays contributed to England losing to Wales and drawing with Scotland. Jones said in March that a lack of clear thinking was “a recurring theme”, which he described as “hand grenades in the back of a Jeep, and sometimes they go off when there’s a lot of pressure.” First Corinne Reid, an Australian who helped her country’s women’s hockey team win Olympic gold, then after Reid left for an academic post, Dr Andrea Furst, who assisted Britain’s gold medal-winning women’s hockey team at the 2016 Olympics. Vunipola believes a breakthrough has been achieved that will boost his side over the next two Saturdays when they face Argentina in Tokyo and France in Yokohama. I think we have had better tools to deal with it this time than before [in 2015].” Asked if the process amounted to a few beers among the players, Vunipola said: “It is deeper than that. “We’ve definitely done that.” While Vunipola’s brother Mako is hoping to prove his fitness for a belated entry to this World Cup after a hamstring injury when he takes part in scrum training over the next two days, No 8 Billy has been England’s busiest player of late.
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