Ryles picks up cross-code ideas from Jones

MELBOURNE Storm defensive coach Jason Ryles says it has been a privilege to swap secrets and learn off England coach Eddie Jones who is preparing his team for another crack at the Wallabies next month in London.

Ryles, a former Australian rugby league representative, has spent the past week in Portugal with Jones and the England squad on a coaching development trip.

While trying to pick up ideas to take back to Melbourne for the Storm’s pre-season which gets underway shortly, Ryles has no qualms acting as another Australian mole helping the old enemy in their quest to beat South Africa next weekend and then the Wallabies at Twickenham on December 3.

‘‘From my point of view, it’s about trying to grow as an individual and as a coach,’’ Ryles told Fairfax Media from Portugal. ‘‘Being around Eddie ... it’s coaching of high quality and something I sit back and watch. At the same time I’ve been helping a few players with a few tackle techniques. I’m not getting involved in their program because it’s already set in stone and they’re pretty busy but I’m helping in any way I can.’’

Ryles said the trip was organised by the Storm’s former director of performance, Dean Benton, who is now England Rugby’s head of sports science.

During England’s whitewash tour to Australia in June, forwards coach Steve Borthwick and defence overlord Paul Gustard visited the Storm in a similar capacity to what Ryles is doing now in Europe. ‘‘We want to bring that harder edge to our defence,’’ said Jones during the week. ‘‘So he [Ryles] is in for a couple of weeks to assist Guzzy [defence coach Paul Gustard]. We brought him over and I think he’ll make a hell of a difference.

‘‘There are similarities with our system so Jason can add to our defence. To beat Springboks we need our defence to be absolutely brutal. That is one of the things that we want to practise this week.’’

Ryles is not the first former Kangaroos player Jones has enlisted to try to help him beat the Australians.

Andrew Johns made a surprise appearance at Coogee Oval in June to help playmakers Owen Farrell and George Ford.

Another Australian, former Wallabies legend Glen Ella, was brought into England’s coaching setup by Jones for the June series that the visitors won 3-0.

Ryles said he admired what Jones had done in his short tenure as England coach which has seen him not drop a game from nine attempts.

Ryles also talked up the vibe within the England camp, saying he wanted to take as much back to Melbourne as possible. ‘‘It’s a huge learning experience for me as Eddie has got so much experi- ence coaching,’’ Ryles said. ‘‘Just watching how he is with the players and how he conducts his meetings, how his training is managed . . he’s certainly been really good to work with and to see from my perspective.

‘‘As far as the camp’s concerned ... there’s a real will to perform for their country. Guys like Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola and those guys . . . there’s certainly a lot of leadership and it’s driven by Eddie. It’s been a really good environment to be around and it’s not too dissimilar to that of the Storm. I’ve been getting some reassurance that we’re doing some good things at home at the Storm and there’s some things we could use to improve. It’s been a huge privilege the last week.’’

‘ I’ve been helping a few players with a few tackle techniques. ’ JASON RYLES

The Sun-Herald