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'The last two games haven't helped our preparations' - Jones bracing England for Ireland 'challenge'

By PA
Eddie Jones, Head Coach of England looks on prior to the Quilter International match between England and Georgia as part of the Autumn Nations Cup. (Photo by Dan Mullan - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images )

Eddie Jones fears that successive clashes against Italy and Georgia have left England inadequately prepared for the first meaningful fixture of their Autumn Nations Cup.

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A week after dispatching Italy 34-5 in Rome to clinch the Six Nations title, Owen Farrell’s team produced a 40-0 rout of Los Lelos that was equally comprehensive while also exposing areas to improve on, mainly the attack.

Ireland arrive at Twickenham on Saturday fresh from a conclusive win against Wales and having played France the week before, Jones believes they will be more battle-hardened.

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England reaction to their dominant win over Georgia in the opening round of the Autumn Nations Cup.

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England reaction to their dominant win over Georgia in the opening round of the Autumn Nations Cup.

“It’s a massive step up. You’ve just got to look at the world rankings,” Jones said.

“Georgia are ranked 12, Italy are 14th. Ireland are in the top four or five (fifth). It’s like going from playing Kei Nishikori to Novak Djokovic in tennis.

“The last two games haven’t helped our preparations. Our difficulty is that we’ve played two tier-two countries and we’re going to play against a team who have had a great preparation against Wales and France.

“We’re going to have to prepare really well this week because Ireland are a tough, physical team.

“They’ve been at the top of world rugby for the last four or five years, in the top four or five teams.

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“Obviously had some great European success and had a change of coach after the World Cup. They present a massive physical challenge and a good tactical challenge.”

Jones believes Ireland will pose different challenges, forcing “a rethink in how we select the team”, but he was able to reflect on a satisfying demolition of Georgia’s respected pack.

Los Lelos’ strength was ground into submission in a game that produced a staggering 17 scrums, 31 line-outs and 11 mauls.

Among the engineers of England’s dominance up front was Ellis Genge, the fiery Leicester prop.

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“It was good but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We put so much prep into that game knowing they are a good scrummaging side and we have to bring that every week,” Genge said.

“We spoke about their scrum. It’s similar with Argentina. They love scrummaging, so if you can match them there, usually that puts you in good stead around the field.

“We tried to match them up front and we did a good job of it. We did a good job on them as a forward pack.

“They are not a bad pack. They are good players. We did come out with ascendancy, but they are still a good outfit.”

Genge was at the heart of a fight that erupted when England and Georgia trained together in Oxford in February 2019 as a live scrummaging session turned nasty, forcing coaching and backroom staff to separate the warring players.

“To a degree we had a point to prove, but to be honest I got the frustration out there and then in Oxford,” Genge said.

“We all know that we can’t throw any haymakers or anything like that in a game, so there’s no point thinking about it too much. There’s no bad blood there.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for those boys and I’ll always shake their hands after, irrespective of whether they’ve splatted my nose or not!”

– Duncan Bech

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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