Aussies ‘could take us apart’

– Mako Vunipola (above) has told his England team-mates they must raise their game against Australia otherwise the Wallabies will “take them apart”.

England launched their November campaign with an unconvincing 21-8 victory against 2019 World Cup pool rivals Argentina at Twickenham in an attritional match coach Eddie Jones labelled a “grindathon”.

Australia are England’s next opponents at Twickenham on Saturday and prop forward Vunipola, the Man-of-the-Match against the Pumas, said only a much-improved performance will deliver a fourth successive victory over the Wallabies, who beat Wales 29-21 at the weekend.

“It shouldn’t happen again,” said Vunipola. “The team Australia are at the moment and the form they are in, they will take you apart if you don’t have that cohesion.

“We are obviously pleased to get a win against a good side but we know we could have played a lot better. There was a lack of patience but also accuracy. We have to learn from it,” he added.

That lack of patience and accuracy prompted a furious outburst from Jones during the game, with television cameras catching him slamming a notebook and mouthing “how f ..... g stupid are we?”.

Jones said he could not fault the players’ “100% effort” but highlighted a lack of cohesion as their main failing against Argentina.

“Most of them did pretty well, we just didn’t play well as a team,” he said. “It was a game where things aren’t going right, you can’t get your rhythm, you can’t get the speed of ball you want.

“The game is difficult and you find a way to win.”

Victory gave England their 20th win in 21 Tests under Jones but the Australian insisted that record was only a means to an end.

“We are trying to win the World Cup in 2019 so everything we do now is about that,” he said.

Meanwhile Jones said he was unconcerned by Australia’s view of England’s performance.

“I don’t really care what Australia thought of us against Argentina,” Jones said. “I want Australia to bring their best game to Twickenham and then see if we can handle it.” –

London

I don’t really care what Australia thought of us against Argentina.

Eddie Jones England coach