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Jones enthuses over England's new Giteau

Ian ChadbandAAP
England have a new weapon straight out of the mould of former Wallabies great Matt Giteau.
Camera IconEngland have a new weapon straight out of the mould of former Wallabies great Matt Giteau. Credit: AAP

Eddie Jones is blooding the latest boy wonder of English rugby Henry Arundell, and reckons the youngster is straight out of the mould of a Wallabies great he coached.

Jones has selected 19-year-old Arundell, who's been cutting a dash in Premiership rugby, in his pre-Australian tour training squad, saying the teenager reminds him of Matt Giteau.

Arundell's first selection in the camp has opened up the possibility of the teenage full-back, who's been going viral with his try-scoring exploits for London Irish, being a bolter for the three-Test tour in July.

Australian Jones has never been afraid to give young talent the chance to shine.

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When he was Wallabies coach back in 2002, he gave a debut to the highly promising 20-year-old Giteau against England at Twickenham.

It was the start of a fine 14-year international career in which the gifted attacker Giteau ended up playing 103 Tests.

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The 19-year-old Arundell only made his Premiership debut in February but has scored 11 tries in 15 matches for Irish and England U20s this season.

Now he's been promoted to the senior squad, with Jones telling reporters on Tuesday: "We watched him during the Under-20s and he was impressive.

"He's got exceptional pace. He probably reminds me a lot of Matt Giteau, in terms of his desire to attack - not the way he plays, but his desire to attack."

Jones watched Arundell in a Premiership match against Wasps a fortnight ago, when the youngster showed real character and skill to recover from a disappointing start.

"I was particularly impressed. The ball was kicked to him and he knocked it on cold, so it wasn't a great start," recalled Jones.

"There's all this hoo-haa about him being a fantastic player and he knocks the ball on cold.

"Next ball he gets a long pass, sees back space, chips and scores - and that's the sort of mindset you want to see from young players who want to take on the game. So that's impressive, and with his pace obviously.

"Obviously, there's been a fair bit of publicity about the young boy, but we'll just wait and see".

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