England will learn from painful defeats — Eddie Jones

LONDON: Eddie Jones believes despite two ‘very painful’ defeats which ended England’s two year Six Nations reign they can learn from the experience and bounce back.

The 58- year- old Australian – who prior to the Six Nations had suffered just the one defeat since taking over after the 2015 World Cup debacle – said defeat helps in the evolution of great sides.

Jones now has the sizeable chal lenge of trying to raise his side’s morale after defeats to Scotland and France ahead of host ing newly crowned champions Ireland as the visitors bid to seal only their third Five/ Six Nations Grand Slam.

England are yet to lose at Twickenham under Jones and the Irish have not won there since 2010.

“No, not at all,” said Jones when asked did he lack belief in his players.

“Every good team goes through this period. It’s actual ly an essential part of developing a great team.

“The learnings we’ l l get from this, albeit very painful, are absolutely crucial going forward because it’s about how we respond,” added Jones.

Jones, who guided England to the Grand Slam in 2016 and then was denied another one a year later when the Irish upset them in Dublin, said the principal hurdle to overcome was the dent to the players confidence.

“It’s not as i f we can’t play rugby, we know we’ve got good players as they’ve played for the Lions and won games for England,” said Jones.

“When you get a loss it tests your mental resolve and that’s the test we’ve got to face.

“Obviously we need to get over the disappointment of losing to France.”

Jones, who said captain Dylan Hartley was back in training after his leadership skills were badly missed in the French defeat, said the Irish deserved their title win.

“We’ve just got to focus now on Ireland,” said Jones, who revealed wing Elliott Daly faces a scan on his left foot.

“We’ve started that with a short run this ( Monday) morning and a couple of meetings to get us on the front foot.” — AFP