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'We're not a team humming along like a big V8 revving down the highway... we have always got problems'
England escaped the Friday morning London fog in search of their seventh successive win when they take on struggling Wales in Llanelli in their final Autumn Nations Cup pool game – but they headed off down the motorway for Saturday’s game with a reminder from Eddie Jones that they are not perfect.
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The 2020 Six Nations champions are looking to add the new Nations Cup to the RFU trophy cabinet when they likely host France in London in next weekend’s final. But the all-seeing Jones is on their case to ensure there is no room for complacency in a match versus the Welsh that England are tipped to win comfortably.
“There are always problems,” he said ahead of the only away game England will play in their four-match Nations Cup campaign. “I have never known a team not to have problems and a good team is always looking for problems, looking for how they solve problems.
“There were things at training Wednesday we need to tidy up in terms of our defence that we are looking at. There are some technical issues but they are always surrounded by attitudinal issues and we have always got them. We have never not got them.
“It’s like going from the semi-final of the World Cup. You play a game with everyone saying you’re fantastic but you’re not fantastic as we found out in the World Cup final and we’re taking that approach to this game. We’re not fantastic, we know we have got to improve, we know we have got to get better, we know we have got to play with more intensity.
"Ultimately we want to win the World Cup. That is the main goal but for this week we just need our attack to be good enough for the game"#AutumnNationsCup #WALvENG 🏴https://t.co/a5o9hz8Ii2
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 27, 2020
“You’re never (fully) on it… we were on it for maybe 60 minutes of the Ireland game but not for 80 minutes. You always have to look at how you can tidy it up. We have got a lot of problems here. We are sorting out problems every day. We are sorting out problems today.
“There is always a problem there. We’re not a team that is humming along and is like a big V8 that is revving down the highway. We have always got problems and we are always trying to fix those problems.
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“Wales have been sitting around all week with people talking about England and the challenge we will bring. They have been prodded and been told their coach is under pressure. There will be a lot of desire and intent. Just look at their team, it’s a strong team. They have got good players all across the park so we can’t underestimate them.”
Saturday, 4pm 🏴🏴 #AutumnNationsCup pic.twitter.com/KSi8eLsSnp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 27, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments