Eddie ready to sweat it out and seal the series

EDDIE JONES predicts England will face a battle in Santa Fe today — a far cry from the first skirmish against Argentina last week. England’s 38-34 victory in the dry heat of San Juan last Saturday gave Jones a flavour of the future, with 10 debutants impressing and the youngsters stealing victory late. But Jones knows a 2-0 series win would taste even sweeter, and on the humid banks of the Rio Santa Fe his thirst is yet to be quenched. ‘I think it might be a bit of a slugathon,’ he said. ‘It is very rare 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. If the first game has been open the second game has been tighter. We are prepared for both — we have got a good attitude in our team, we have made a few changes to have a slightly stronger team and feel well equipped.’ Those changes are three-fold. Chris Robshaw adds experience and guile in the back-row, replacing Mark Wilson, Sam Underhill makes his debut at No 7 in place of the ‘battered and bruised’ Tom Curry — who could have played but was given a break — and Piers Francis, so electric off the bench last time, is in for Alex Lozowski at centre. Francis, who sacrificed playing for the Auckland Blues against the Lions to make his England bow, has impressed Jones. Francis was rejected by Saracens for being too small, then played for Edinburgh and Doncaster between stints in New Zealand. ‘You look at his pathway, he has really had to battle it out,’ added Jones. ‘There is a fair bit of desire about him.’ It is a similar tale to Underhill, who left Gloucester in 2015 and found his niche with the Ospreys while studying for an economics degree.