Eddie Jones: Ireland aren't Scotland's biggest threat at this World Cup
Scotland’s biggest threat at the Rugby World Cup won’t be Ireland, at least not according to Eddie Jones.
Jones believes his former team – Japan – will be targetting Scotland at the tournament. Hosts Japan, who will be hoping to reach the last eight at a World Cup for the first time, have been drawn in Pool A with Ireland, Scotland, Russia and Samoa.
Ireland are favourites to finish as group leaders. However, the second place spot will be hotly contested. Former Japan coach and current England boss Jones believes the Brave Blossoms’ biggest test will come against Scotland.
The two teams also met at the last World Cup in England, which Scotland won 45-10.
However, Japan left a lasting impression when they recorded three wins in that 2015 tournament, including one of the biggest upsets when they beat South Africa 34-32 in their opening pool game.
Another big scalp is needed at the 2019 World Cup if Japan are to qualify for the knockout stages.
“They’re going to have to beat Scotland. Scotland’s a strong team. But as we showed in 2015, anything’s possible,” Jones told Kyodo News.
And Jones has some tips for his former team.
“You’ve got to play a looser style,” Jones said. “They [Scotland] try to break the game up. They want the game to be more unstructured, so it will suit Japan more, but again, they [Scotland] have got a very good team. Good backs, good back row. Their set piece is outstanding.”
Beating Scotland will be a tough task for Japan, but Japan will go into the World Cup with a big advantage says Jones.
“Japan’s challenge will be preparing to beat Scotland. [But] you’ve got to look at the advantages Japan has – apart from Argentina, they’re the only international team that have all their players together as a group, and they play Super Rugby together, so they have time. And that’s a big advantage.”
Japan showed what they are capable of when they faced England at Twickenham in November.
Japan were on their way to causing a massive upset, but they ran out of gas towards the end of the match and they eventually lost 15-35.
“Japan is a good tough team, probably a much stronger team than the one I coached. [Japan coach] Jamie [Joseph] and [Sunwolves coach] Tony Brown are doing a great job. They’re a lot bigger physically than I’ve seen a Japan team,” Jones said.
“Their defence was impressive [against England], good line speed, worked hard for the 80 minutes. They attacked with a lot of creativity. I thought (Michael) Leitch played exceptionally well. There are some good young players, (Atsushi) Sakate, Koo (Ji Won), (Kazuki) Himeno — very impressive.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments