JONES GOT AMERICANS DREAMING
Gideon Brooks ENGLAND coach Eddie Jones has been warned he could become a victim of his own success after his miracle win with Japan at the last World Cup.
England’s opponents USA are rank outsiders in today’s Pool C clash. But so too were Uruguay against Fiji before providing the shock of the tournament so far yesterday. It is
not lost on either England or their opponents that Fiji were playing their second game in four days against a much lower-ranked team with fresh legs.
The scenario under the roof of the Misaki Stadium is the same.
Eagles boss Gary Gold says seeing Jones’ Brave Blossoms stun South
Africa in Brighton at the 2015 World Cup has given all Tier 2 nations a boost.
“Japan-South Africa certainly changed the mindset,” Gold said.
“Results like that aren’t frequent but they’re happening more regularly. The gap is still quite wide but I think slowly but surely it is closing. We don’t really have anything to lose. Nobody will give us a chance.
That puts pressure on England.
“We’ve all been in that situation where you know you’re playing a team that on paper is supposed to be weaker than you.
“Going through the minds of the England players – maybe not for very long, but it will nonetheless – will be ‘what if, what if’?
“We’ve put the pressure on ourselves in terms of performance. We want to come out of this game with credibility.” The last time the nations
SENIOR MAN: Fly-half Ford will lead England today met, at the 2007 World Cup, holders England made hard work of beating a side ranked 15th in the world. Twelve years on, England are not world champions and the Eagles, who last year beat Scotland to claim their first Tier 1 scalp, are up to No13.
For all that, if England have aspirations to win theWorld Cup, they will find a way to get the job done. Jones is savvy enough to know the risk attached, hence his decision to re-deploy Billy Vunipola, Joe Marler, Tom Curry and George Ford.
He does not need reminding that when England rehearsed a four-day turnaround before playing Japan at Twickenham last November it did not go at all to plan. Japan led for an hour and Jones had to send for the cavalry to escape.