England coach hails ‘magic dust’ finishers
LONDON: England rugby coach Eddie Jones praised his team’s never-say-die attitude and the impact of his bench players, after England shocked the rampant All Blacks with a late trio of tries to salvage a 25-25 draw.
“All of a sudden someone blows some magic dust, the passes start to stick, the passes are a bit sharper, our finishers came on and really improved the game we wanted to play,” Jones said.
The replacement props were particularly to the fore in England’s comeback.
“Mako [Vunipola] came on and ran some really good lines down the centre of the field, which allowed us to attack a bit straighter on the outside,” Jones added.
The star of the show though was the less-heralded Will Stuart, whose brace either side of a Freddie Steward try completed England’s turnaround.
“He’s got a special session on Monday, how to score a try,” Jones said wryly of Stuart’s unorthodox technique of grounding the ball between his legs for the decisive score.
Another less-known England player, the Northampton Saints second row David Ribbans who was drafted into the squad amid a run of injuries for rivals to his place, also caught the eye.
“It was a good pass that, outstanding,” Owen Farrell said of an out-theback offload from Ribbans that typified the replacements’ desire to throw caution to the wind and attack with the game seemingly lost.
As well as the star subs, coach Jones and captain Farrell were both significantly eager to praise scrum half Jack van Poortvliet, the young rival to his Leicester team mate Ben Youngs for the No.9 jersey who endured a torrid first half.
JVP, as his England colleagues call him, threw an intercept pass, had a kick charged down, and was sacked from the base of a scrum but never let his head drop and avoided the ignominy of one of Jones’ trademark brutal early substitutions.
“JVP didn’t get flustered, there’s plenty of blokes who come into Test rugby and make a mistake and just don’t want to make another, but he’s not like that,” Farrell said.
Jones likewise said the game will have taught him a lot and praised the young scrum half for sticking at it, saying also that he had sustained an injury.
“JVP’s bone went through his finger, but he’s a tough bloke, he’ll be OK,” he added.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
Losing captain Johnny Sexton to injury shortly before Saturday’s 13-10 victory over Australia was a blessing in disguise for Ireland as they tested their squad depth and resolve ahead of next year’s World Cup, coach Andy Farrell said.
Sexton, the linchpin of Irish rugby for the last decade, injured his calf in Saturday’s warm up, handing rookie fly-half Jack Crowley his first international start with regular understudy Joey Carbery also out injured.
Farrell said it was far from his side’s best performance — they struggled particularly in attack without Sexton’s playmaking influence — but they ground it out to ensure finishing the year as the world’s top ranked side.
“It was great for us in so many ways, for Jack to get the start, just to see how he could handle that type of situation and as a group to help Jack out and I thought the kid stood up tall,” Farrell told a news conference.
“We were devastated for Johnny, he wants to help the lads put in a good performance but at the same time even Johnny knows that it’s good us, we find out where we’re at and how we need to adapt.”