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'A bad call by the referee, unfair conditions in the game': How England have tailored training to ensure they cope with French adversity
Eddie Jones has revealed the lengths he has gone to this week at training to try and ensure his struggling England team can better cope when they are on the receiving end of adversity in a match. The 2020 Guinness Six Nations champions were humbled last month by sobering defeats to Scotland and Wales.
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Especially galling was the undisciplined fashion in which they fell away in the closing stages of the loss to Wales, the penalty count punishingly mounting after they had managed to fight back from having two first-half tries incorrectly awarded against them.
With a total of 41 penalties conceded in last month’s three matches, Jones invited RFU Test referees Matthew Carley and Wayne Barnes into the England camp this week to help them clean up their act when they face the French on Saturday with Andrew Brace, the referee from the loss to Scotland, on the whistle.
It has been no-holds-barred, with the instructions going so far as to purposely stress the England players with adverse game-like situations in training to equip them with the tools needed to best react and not lose their focus as happened against Wales.
“When the good teams go through this like we are [handling adversity], it’s never a lack of effort. It’s handling the disappointment of the game, that’s the most important thing,” explained Jones, who has made three changes to his XV with Max Malins, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Charlie Ewels in for benched trio Elliot Daly, Jamie George and Jonny Hill. “We have tried to create training sessions this week to replicate what might be termed a disappointment in the game to make sure we don’t lose our focus.
Something had to give following the concession of 41 England penalties in three February matches#SixNations #ENGvFRA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 10, 2021
“What happens when you are not at your best and you get those disappointing moments in a game, all other ideas start flooding into your head instead of just getting back to what is really important. So particularly this week we have tried to create sessions that elicited that response and to expose the players so they can practice that little bit more.
“Game scenarios, a bad call by the referee, unfair conditions in the game, all of those sort of things. We have concentrated on a number of areas, put the players under pressure and we have probably had what we think is a really good training week. I can’t tell you if it is a really good training week until after the game but we think we have had a really good training week.
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“Players enjoy the training. I just look at them this morning [Thursday], they are walking around with a smile on their face looking forward to the challenge. There is going to be moments in the game where we are tested like that and we need to make sure we keep our focus and we feel that we have practised that really well this week.”
Explaining the value in having both Carley and Barnes involved in the England set-up in recent days, Jones added: “Matthew Carley has done a great job. He has refereed three of our more contestable sessions and we also got Wayne Barnes to come in just to talk about how referees now prepare for a game which was very enlightening.
“They will help the process but at the end of the day it comes down to the individual responsibility of players to make the right decision at the right time and we have encouraged that practice to be good at training and we would like to see that flow into the game. We have got a referee on Saturday whose job is to enforce the laws of the game and we are hopeful he will enforce the laws of the game as the law books states.”
This was a calculated reference by Jones as Brace was also the referee when England eventually edged France in extra-time in last December’s Autumn Nations Cup decider, another game where they felt deflated by some of the decisions that were made.
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“France have a high penalty rate,” continued Jones. “They have a very high penalty rate so we will just have to wait and see. They put a lot of pressure on the tackle, as most good defensive sides do. They have got a good lineout-contesting side and they are two areas where they will put pressure on us.”
Embarrassing Loss to Pirates didn't go unnoticed by England's Saracens contingent#ChampRugby #SixNations #ENGvFRA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
To me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
30 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
30 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
30 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
30 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
30 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
30 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
30 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments