Goode is too good to leave out but not according to Eddie Jones

For Alex Goode, the Saracens full-back, the start of 2017 has been a major disappointment with England head coach Eddie Jones leaving the reigning Premiership Player of the Year out of the training squad currently in Brighton and also the elite player squad. It is latest in a series of slaps in the face Jones has given Goode who was ignored on the history making series triumph in Australia last summer despite having just been voted the best player in the Premiership. Goode had also helped Sarries win the Premiership and European double. He did play in the Autumn win over Fiji but that could be the last time the 28-year-old pulls on the England jersey. Patently, Jones believes that with Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell now fit and Elliot Daly also able – like those two wings – of covering full back, Goode is surplus to requirements. Jones recalled the fit-again Maro Itoje, Manu Tuilagi, Watson, James Haskell, Mike Williams and Watson in the 33-man squad for the two-day training camp in Brighton and laid out his stall for the defence of the Grand Slam which starts against France in February.Harlequins wing Marland Yarde has taken Goode’s place in the EPS squad and the Sarries full back know his only hope of a recall will come if more serious injury hits a squad already unable to include the Vunipola brothers Mako and Billy who could miss the Six Nations defence. Goode is the most gifted attacking full back avaiable to Jones who has nailed his colours to the Mike Brown mast throughout his tenure. Brown epitomises the in-your-face atttude Jones wants while Goode is a far more relaxed guy. It is a shame that both cannot be accommodated but Goode will know that under the current regime, he is not rated as highly as many believe he should be. It’s harsh, but just another example of the way Jones is running the national team.