Jones is prepared to swallow a drop of the hard stuff
ENGLAND head into the second Test here against Argentina tonight with Eddie Jones warning them not to expect another day of champagne rugby – instead it could be brown ales all round.
Last weekend’s 38-34 win in San Juan contained eight tries, four for each side, and finished with Denny Solomona’s late score to nail the game, but Jones is not expecting another Test where tackling is off the agenda.
Argentina shelved their power game last week to throw the ball out wide but the England head coach has predicted today’s contest could develop into something far more basic.
A win at Brigadier General Estanislao Lopez Stadium would give the tourists a 2-0 series victory, although he thinks his side will have to roll their sleeves up to get it. “It might be a bit of a slugathon,” said Jones. “It is very rare that you get two games the same.
“It is like drinking a beer; the first beer never tastes the same as the second beer and the third beer never tastes the same as the second one. Rugby is the same.
“The second game is generally never like the first game. If the first game has been open, the second game has been tighter – so we are prepared for both.
“We have a good attitude in our team, we have made a few changes to have a slightly stronger team and we feel equipped to handle the occasion.
“We want to become a very adaptable team. We want to be able to play both ways – if we have to slug it out or if we have to play in an open affair like it was last week.”
Chris Robshaw and centre Piers Francis comes into the team and Sam Underhill makes his debut in the back row.
Francis performed well off the bench last week when he replaced Alex Lozowski, and impressed Jones by bouncing back from Premiership rejection to play Super Rugby for the Blues.
Jones said: “You look at his pathway – he has really had to battle it out. He was left out of the Saracens academy because they didn’t think he was big enough, went up to Edinburgh for a season, lost the season through a foot injury and then made his way down to club rugby to slug it out down in New Zealand. There is a fair bit of desire about him.”
Underhill will become the 11th new cap on this tour meaning Jones now has around 60 players with international experience he has to whittle down to 31 for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Jones will also have one eye on tomorrow’s Under-20 World Cup final, when England play New Zealand, to see if any of those players can be catapulted into this summer’s 45-man Elite Player Squad.
Then he will really earn his money as what he has called phase three of the build-up to Japan starts.
“Rather him than me doing that kind of role,” said Robshaw. “That’s why he’s the man in charge – he makes the tough calls and he does what he deems is best for the side. “We do have that quality in depth, we don’t just have numbers, we have very good players in every position, from one to full-back. “For us to be successful over the next two years and beyond, it’s about that depth coming through.”
ARGENTINA: Tuculet; Moyano, Orlando, De La Fuente, Boffelli; Sanchez, Landajo; Noguera, Creevy (capt), Pieretto, Alemanno, Lavanini, Matera, Ortega Desio, Leguizamon. Replacements: Montoya, Tetaz Chaparro, Herrera, Petti, Lezana, Bertanou, Hernandez, Moroni. ENGLAND: Brown; Yarde, Slade, Francis, May; Ford, Care; Genge, Hartley (capt), Williams, Launchbury, Ewels, Robshaw, Underhill, Hughes. Replacements: Singleton, Mullan, Collier, Isiekwe, Wilson, Maunder, Lozowski, Solomona.