Joseph takes aim at Jones At a glance
Japan’s Kiwi coach Jamie Joseph criticised Eddie Jones for the provocative comments his England counterpart made before the Brave Blossoms gave the English a mighty fright at Twickenham yesterday.
England turned on the power in the second half to beat Japan 35-15 in London but only after trailing at halftime after Jones had made 11 changes to the side that almost beat the All Blacks last weekend.
Jones said during the week he wanted England to be ‘‘absolutely ruthless’’ and ‘‘physically smash’’ Japan in response to losing 16-15 to the All Blacks.
But England’s coach was instead facing another upset on par with Japan’s 2015 World Cup win over South Africa in Brighton when the Australian was coaching the Brave Blossoms.
Joseph said Jones’ comments in the media about Japan needing to go to the temple to pray before getting smashed had ‘‘helped our motivation’’.
‘‘Eddie Jones’ comments fired me up a bit but at the end of the day we still prepare how we prepare,’’ he told BBC Sport.
‘‘We gave sloppy penalties away and allowed England back in which was a little bit disappointing, but I’m proud of the players all the same.’’
Jones insisted post-match he ‘‘wanted Japan to be at their best’’ and England got ‘‘the sort of game we needed’’ after his side recovered from trailing 15-10 at halftime.
‘‘They had a few things go their way and got back into the game and it became an arm wrestle for a while,’’ he told BBC Sport.
England’s final November test this weekend is against another side Jones previously coached, the Wallabies.
The Wallabies continued their unbeaten streak over Italy with a 26-7 victory and are optimistic David Pocock will be right for this week’s critical showdown with England after he came from the field injured early in the second half. Two Marika Koroibete tries opened up a 14-0 halftime lead for the under-pressure Australians.
Although Italy played better than their 13th world ranking would suggest, the Wallabies recorded their fourth win of 2018 and 18th in a row against the Azzurri dating back to 1983.
British and Irish Lions back Liam Williams scored two tries in his 50th test as Wales ran riot in the second half against Tonga. Warren Gatland’s Welsh side – missing many frontline players – turned on 10 tries in a 74-24 drubbing at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium yesterday.
Tonga – down seven points at halftime – had levelled at 24-24 early in the second half before the floodgates opened.
It was Wales’ eighth successive win, setting them up for a chance for a November clean sweep when they host the Springboks next week.
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi is in hot water after television footage captured him bizarrely landing an apparent headbutt on Scotland’s Peter Horne in their Murrayfield test yesterday.
Handre Pollard turned in a man-of-the-match performance as South Africa edged out Scotland 26-20 in Edinburgh with the firstfive scoring a try and adding 13 points with his boot.
However, South Africa’s win is likely to come at a cost after an incident involving Kolisi and Scottish back Horne while the pair were on the floor at a ruck in the 30th minute.
The Springboks loose forward was on top of Horne and he then appeared to lean back and strike him in the face with the back of his head.
France ended a five-match losing streak by defeating Argentina 28-13 in Lille.
A week after a painful lastminute 29-26 loss to South Africa, France got off to a woeful start by conceding a try after two minutes, but gradually got going and finished the match strongly.
Wing Teddy Thomas scored two tries, captain and hooker Guilhem Guirado added one and halfback Baptiste Serin kicked 13 points.
France held an 11-10 lead at halftime under the retractable
In Bucharest: United States 31 (Bryce Campbell 2, Ruben de Haas, Ryan Matyas, Tim Maupin tries; Will Magie 3cons) Romania 5 (Ionel Melinte try). HT: 12-5.
In Padua: Australia 26 (Marika Koroibete 2, Tanielu Tupou, Will Genia tries; Matt To’omua 3cons) Italy 7 (Mattia Bellini try; Tommaso Allan con). HT: 14-0.
In Cardiff: Wales 74 (Liam Williams 2, Dan Biggar, Steff Evans, Tomos Williams, Tyler Morgan, Cory Hill, Aled Davies, Rhys Patchell tries; penalty try; Biggar 4cons 2pens, Patchell 4cons) Tonga 24 (Leva Fifita, Sitiveni Mafi, Sione Vaillanu tries; Sonatane Takulua 3cons pen). HT: 22-17.
In Hartpury: Fiji 68 (Peceli Yato 3, Eroni Sau 3, Metuisela Talebula, Josua Tuisova, Semi Kunatani, Ben Volavola tries; Ben Volavola 8cons) Uruguay 7 (Santiago Arata try; Felipe Berchesi con). HT: 35-7.
In Tbilisi: Georgia 27 (Vasil Lobzhanidze, Otar Giorgadze, Gela Aprasidze tries; Tedo Abzhandadze 3cons 2pens) Samoa 19 (JJ Taulagi, Filo Paulo, Ah See Tuala tries; Tusi Pisi 2cons). HT: 10-19.
In London: England 35 (Danny Care, Mark Wilson, Joe Cokanasiga, Dylan Hartley tries; George Ford 3cons 2pens, Elliot Daly penalty) Japan 15 (Ryoto Nakamura, Michael Leitch tries; Yu Tamura con penalty). HT: 10-15.
In Edinburgh: South Africa 26 (Jesse Kriel, Handre Pollard tries; Pollard 2cons 3pens, Elton Jantjies pen) Scotland 20 (Pete Horne, Hamish Watson tries; Greig Laidlaw 2cons 2pens). HT: 20-17.
In Lille: France 28 (Teddy Thomas 2, Guilhem Guirado tries; Baptiste Serin 2cons 3pens) Argentina 13 (Ramiro Moyano try; Nicolas Sanchez con 2pens). HT: 11-10.
roof of Stade Pierre Mauroy after Thomas touched down and Serin landed two penalties.
France dominated the scrum in the second half and scored a brilliant try following a superb individual burst from second fiveeighth Gael Fickou that resulted in Thomas’ second try.
Guirado scored his sixth international try 10 minutes from time.
The Pumas weren’t able to find the line again following the early score from wing Ramiro Moyano, with first five-eighth Nicolas Sanchez kicking the rest of their points.