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'They need to learn how to handle situations': England's youngsters taught a lesson says Eddie Jones
Eddie Jones says less-experienced England players will learn valuable lessons from their 23-19 victory over Wales, where they led 17-0 but ended up hanging on desperately at the end as the visitors probed for a match-winning try.
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Four Marcus Smith penalties and an Alex Dombrandt try had England well clear early in the second half at Twickenham before tries by Josh Adams and Nick Tompkins closed the gap to five points.
Two more Smith penalties opened it again but Kieran Hardy’s late try enabled Wales to regather the ball as the clock hit 80 minutes and the hosts had to stand firm against a wave of attacks before eventually winning a decisive turnover.
“There was plenty of resilience and toughness,” Jones said. “We had a period of 10 minutes where we were untidy in our defence. We knocked off for that quick tap try, which was disappointing. Then the last five minutes were exceptional.
“We got ourselves into a lot of attacking positions and weren’t able to convert them into points and for a young team we need to learn how to do that. We should have been more clinical when we’re down there.
“But we’ve got nine, 10 and 15 (halfback Harry Randall, five-eighth Smith and fullback Freddie Steward) who have played under 10 caps, and a number eight (Dombrandt) just out of university.
“They are young guys and they need to learn how to handle situations.”
Jones kept man of the match Smith on for the entire game, saying “he just keeps on developing” but directed most of his praise towards his most experienced player as Ben Youngs came off the bench for his 115th appearance to become England’s most-capped player.
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“It is a great achievement and it’s testament to his great work ethic,” he said of the 32-year-old scrumhalf who made his debut 12 years ago.
England are now on 10 points after an opening defeat by Scotland then wins over Italy and Wales and now host Ireland before completing the campaign with what they hope will be a title decider against France in Paris.
Jones, as ever, declined to look too far ahead, saying: “All I know is that there are probably three teams who can win it and we’re one of them and I’d rather be in our position than those who can’t.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
1 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
4 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
4 Go to commentsSurely there’s a ‘no knobheads’ policy ?
2 Go to commentsWallaroos have no chance of beating the Black Ferns unless Canada upsets them in Christchurch tomorrow but I doubt that as well!
1 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Could the victim do a course to reverse the long term CTE damage from the cheapshot?
2 Go to commentsTruely great player. In social media and opinion pieces he was held up and flogged for the results. People wanted someone to crucify, and he was the captain. He was still an immense presence respected by his peers. His battles with Siya Kolisi belong up with with Collins vs Burger in my opinion. Unlucky to be carded in the final, but I don’t agree that his red card was the defining moment. Not when you look at the dominant performances of the Springboks (PSDT in particular.) I think Cane should be remembered for the spirit and physicality that is special to test rugby.
16 Go to commentsSam was the man until he got injured .
16 Go to comments_Crusaders versus Leinster _at the moment might be a rout! But I would like to see the Blues play Toulouse, the Hurricanes front up against Stade Francais, and the Chiefs go against Toulon.
157 Go to commentsLove it when we overlap! Promise it was not forethought.
19 Go to commentsjfc can this guy plz stay out of the news for one week
2 Go to commentsIf stormers aren’t available. Based on form and likely availability at the time of the wales Test, you’d think Masuku would be a no-brainer to start. But starting Jordan also makes sense having Masuku come off the bench to close out the game.
2 Go to commentsGlad Tom Curry not playing needs time to recover such a great player also his brother Ben how well is he playing now .
1 Go to commentsLet’s examine what might be irking the brainless E: Up until 20 years before this coming Julys tests: 16 games: 14 wins for SA; 1 win for Ire; 1 draw From 20 years until July’ tests Ireland V SA: 13 matches Ireland won 8; SA won 4; 1 draw Points scored Ireland 261; SA 189 Ave Winning Margin: Ireland 11 points; SA 4 points (away 3, home 6) Away win record: Ireland 33.33%; SA 25% Neutral matches 1: Ireland win RWC France 2023. Last SA win June 2016 (8 years ago) They boast 3 World cups in that period (they do boast). The above record is not good, probably not much better than theirs against NZ for same period. That’s why the dopey E is starting fights in his head. He will probably ship a yellow when things don’t go their way in the first test.
127 Go to commentsGoode is like a wet fart on The Rugby Pod and should be shoved aside. Jim knows what he is on about and can get on better without Goode’s nasty little cheap shots.
127 Go to comments