JONES FEELS WEIGHT OF WORLD CUP ‘I think we know what we are good at, it’s ingrained’

Eddie gets emotional again as intensity of tournament takes toll

Not for the first time at this World Cup, Eddie Jones struggled to contain his emotions. He was responding to the passing of his friend and former Wallabies flanker Jeff Sayle, a stalwart at Randwick where Jones played and coached. Sayle was, by all accounts, the heartbeat of a club he also served as president, treasurer, secretary and patron.

He even had a beer named after him, although he was famous for preferring a short, sharp sherry before going out to face the All Blacks.

Jones’ testament was unsolicited and, as he made it, he paused briefly, clearly fighting back tears.

And, obviously, the death of a close friend — ‘even with England in 2016 he was the most welcoming host, I remember going for a few beers with him at the Coogee Bay Hotel’ — is a very sad occasion.

Yet before England played tonga in their opening game, Jones was uncommonly sensitive, too. When he spoke of his pride in leading the country into a World Cup, his voice began to crack, a side of the man few had seen. We are so used to being in the presence of Fast Eddie, whip smart and knowingly provocative, his every sentence loaded for maximum effect.

the guy who talks of smacking Italy or accuses Japan — the politest nation in the world — of bad-mouthing England before meeting them in a test last year.

Jones always knows what he is doing. Yet this is a World Cup. And World Cups are different. they possess an intensity that reveals another side of individuals.

At the tokyo Stadium tomorrow, England face Argentina in a fixture seen as the moment the tournament gets real for Jones and his players.

Until now, it has gone very much as expected. A hard-fought win over tonga, comfortable with a second string against the United States. this, however, is an Argentina side fighting for their lives. Lose, and they are going home.

And while England have won the last nine meetings — and haven’t lost to them since a tour game under Martin Johnson in 2009 — undoubtedly this will be a significant step up. So Jones feels that pressure, that responsibility, and the mind games begin.

Argentina hooker Agustin Creevy this week described England’s rugby as boring. It’s a perennial favourite. trash England’s style, see if they bite.

See if they can be knocked off course, if they can be diverted from their game plan. See if ego gets the better of them. there is little more vulnerable in tournament rugby than England trying to be the great entertainers.

And Jones knows this. Just as he will know that, looking beyond the headlines, Creevy’s words were not quite as provocative as they might have first appeared.

He was talking more widely about the structure of England’s rugby and he said it worked. He also said he learned a lot from playing two seasons at Worcester.

‘Sometimes their structure is boring, but it’s good for England,’ Creevy explained. ‘I spent a lot of time there and it was great.

‘I improved a lot in the way I see rugby, and I understand a lot about how the England boys see it. Really structured.’

Yet, back in Fast Eddie mode, Jones was in no mood for nuance.

He pounced immediately on Creevy’s statement as a way of reminding his team there was a way to win, and how it was viewed beyond the camp made no difference. He even cited the greatest example of focus fatally lost — the 1991 World Cup final.

Back then, England rose to the taunts of Australian coach Bob Dwyer and player of the tournament David Campese, who riled England with insults about their style of play. As a result England tried to prove a point with open, expansive rugby, while Australia kept it tight and won.

Rob Andrew, England’s fly-half, touched the ball 41 times to 17 by his Australian equivalent Michael Lynagh. It has gone down in Australian folklore as one of the great psych-outs. Certainly, asked about Creevy’s dismissal of England this week, that is how Jones chose to recall it.

‘I think it’s the old two- card trick,’ he said. ‘I remember another great old coach, Bob Dwyer, threw that one out in 1991 and there was a response from the England side and maybe if they hadn’t played like that you’d have two World Cups on your sleeve, not one. ‘Look, there’s many different ways to play the game. I might give you a book, you think it’s interesting. You give it to Chris (Foy, Sportsmail rugby correspondent), he thinks it’s rubbish. What’s right? Nothing’s right. ‘ Find a way to play the game effectively —

that’s the great thing about it. I think we know what we’re good at. that’s pretty ingrained, and most of the time we do it. But like any good batsman, from time to time you can get seduced by a loose ball outside off stump. We’ve been as guilty as anyone of that, but this side are pretty disciplined.’

So why would Jones think they needed reminding? this is a World Cup. It feels different. there is pressure to impress beyond just winning, there are forces that haven’t been experienced by some.

think of Chris Robshaw’s decision-making at the last one.

Jones (left), like the friend from Randwick he mourned, has been around the block a few times now.

But the intensity of tournament rugby can still feel foreign.

A gentle reminder honed from decades of coaching experience does no harm. Jeff Sayle would no doubt have tipped his sherry glass and approved.