By entrusting Marcus Smith with the No 10 jersey, too, there is a new focal point. If anyone had predicted even a week ago the home side would line up against Australia with Manu Tuilagi on the wing and Rodd in the front row, even Jones would have raised a quizzical eyebrow. This, though, is an increasingly reconfigured England side. Since Jones took charge in November 2015, furthermore, England have only once failed to put 30 points on his compatriots. Jones’s England have won seven straight Tests against Australia and, outside World Cups, there has been just one Wallabies win home or away since June 2010. More practicable, perhaps, is to gather together his remaining players, assuming there are no more positive tests lurking in the shrubbery, and tell them to overlook the recent history of this fixture. If Jones fancies generating some pre-game mischief he should lob the 42-year-old Sheridan an XL tracksuit and invite him to join England’s warm-up. Twice, at Twickenham in 2005 and in the World Cup quarter-final in Marseille in 2007, he created such carnage that a generation of Wallabies tight forwards were left traumatised. It will certainly be a big ask for the previously low-profile Rodd to emulate the destructive impact that another Sale loosehead, Andrew Sheridan, used to have in this fixture. A couple of days ago England were licking their lips at the prospect of piling into a depleted Australian front row. To lose a second, Ellis Genge, may yet cause a serious issue if anything were to befall either Sale’s uncapped Bevan Rodd or Newcastle’s Trevor Davison prior to the teatime kick-off. To lose one prominent loosehead prop, Joe Marler, to a positive Covid-19 test is unfortunate. Eddie Jones is currently experiencing a not-dissimilar sense of trepidation ahead of England’s eagerly awaited Twickenham date with the Wallabies, praying no further Covid “surprises” are lying in wait to test his team’s already-exposed undercarriage. As every Australian outback resident knows, you can never be entirely sure what is lurking beneath the seat of the outdoor dunny.

Joe don t wanna be a player no more