Jones says glory boys need to be bulletproof
THE celebratory ticker tape barely had time to hit the ground here after England secured a 2-0 series win in Argentina before Eddie Jones set a new challenge for his team.
His conclusion after scoring 73 points away from home in two thrilling matches against a team who graced the World Cup semi-final in 2015? That this was nowhere near good enough.
Jones talks about the phases building towards his ultimate goal — lifting the Webb Ellis Cup on November 2, 2019 in Yokohama. Phase one was his first season, where England won nine on the spin, phase two has now just ended — 10 more Test wins, one loss to Ireland.
Now phase three begins, which he says runs from now until his World Cup training camp in June 2019 before phase four, the final push. And Jones has set a challenge for the next 23 months, for England to become the invincibles.
After beating the Pumas, World Cup pool opponents in 2019, for the second time in two weeks the head coach said: ‘To beat Argentina at the World Cup we are going to have to improve.
‘We are not bulletproof at the moment. To win at the World Cup you need to be bulletproof.
‘In various games they have edged us in certain departments. In the first half they had a setpiece advantage. We can’t allow that to happen again.
‘On Saturday we got out of it and the first game we got out of jail a bit. We are too close to Argentina. At the World Cup we need a gap.
‘The next phase we want to go through undefeated. That is the next challenge.
‘If we do that you go to the World Cup as No 1. If you go to the World Cup as No 1 you have got reasons to be confident because you have put a gap between you and the rest of the teams.’
He will sit down with every one of the tour squad this week, back in England, for an appraisal the players must dread. The gauntlet has already been laid down to the 11 debutants, who performed so admirably out here.
‘I think we have got good depth, but also I think the younger players are not hungry enough. I think having had this experience here will make them hungry. I think England players need to be hungrier,’ Jones added.
‘They find it too easy. They play in the Under 20s, they get a contract straightaway. That doesn’t happen in any other country. They have changed with us, but it is not about when they are with us, it is when they are by themselves.’ Jones did find time for praise, though. He had to, this young squad deserved plaudits. ‘We have adapted,’ he said. ‘We haven’t played great rugby but we have played smart rugby. We have been able to change our game and come up with different ways of winning. An England side does not tend to win a game like this 35-25.’ He then picked out Harry Williams, Ellis Genge, Charlie Ewels, Tom Curry and Sam Underhill as those who have starred, adding Harry Mallinder and Nathan Earle, who did not play, as ones to watch. It was another cracking game in this fine series. George Ford was commanding again, scoring 15 points after claiming 23 the week before. The exclamation point came with six minutes to spare, a cool drop goal from 40 metres. The tries came from the excellent Ewels, Piers Francis after a superb run from Mike Brown, Danny Care — again assisted by the full-back — and Will Collier from a rolling maul. Argentina could never quite keep up but still managed good tries through Joaquin Tuculet, Pablo Matera and Emiliano Boffelli, with Nicolas Sanchez adding the rest of their points from the tee.