JONES JOY AS ENGLAND SCORE IN ‘FERGIE TIME’ TO BAG BONUS

EDDIE JONES revealed England’s late bonus-point siege was inspired by a talk from sir Alex Ferguson, who taught the players all about ‘Fergie Time’. England were expected to run riot against Tonga but they had to wait until the 77th minute for the bonus-point try which could be crucial in Pool C. Two tries from the superb Manu Tuilagi in the 35-3 win put a smile on Jones’ face early on, but the coach later punched his desk in frustration at numerous errors. ‘We came here to get five points and we got five points,’ said Jones. ‘We’ve got no injuries and we know we can play better. ‘during the lead-up to the World Cup, one person we were lucky enough to have in was sir Alex Ferguson. one of the things his teams were renowned for was — what do they call it? Fergie Time. ‘The message was to be patient and that’s what i enjoyed about our team out there. There was no sign of panic and they kept on playing good rugby and the try came. The thing about the World Cup, having been to a few, is that it’s not a 100m sprint. You don’t have to come out of the blocks and be absolutely

fantastic now. We’ll keep improving.’ Ferguson paid a surprise visit to England’s training camp in Bristol, where he shared some of the secrets behind his success with Manchester United. Lock Maro Itoje revealed: ‘He said “Don’t shoot. When the pressure’s on, don’t shoot and you’ll find a way to get into a better scoring position.” He didn’t like guys shooting outside the box when the pressure is on. I think we can take a lot out of that. When the pressure is on, it’s not about the elaborate play, it’s not about the 50-50, it’s about doing the right thing.’ Held back by injuries and discipline issues, centre Tuliagi has not played at a World Cup since 2011 and he was inundated with congratulatory messages after his man-of-the-match display. Born in Samoa, he added that he was particularly fired up by facing Tonga’s version of the haka — the Sipi Tau — before kick-off. ‘It was a privilege to stand in front of the Tongan war dance,’ he said. ‘It was brilliant and it definitely fired me up watching that. I had a lot of messages from my family. It was nice to do them proud. It was good but it’s just started.’ England’s focus now turns to playing the USA on Thursday, with Jones expected to rotate his team to compensate for the short turnaround. ‘They’re going to come out all guns blazing,’ said Jones. ‘It’s going to be like 15 Donald Trumps out there so we’ll have to be on our job, because we know they’re going to give it everything.’