WE MUST KEEP FRONT DOOR LOCKED
Jones warns squad to be braced for Boks — and fires parting shot at Wales boss Gatland
EDDIE JONES delivered a brutal riposte to Warren Gatland’s suggestion that England may have peaked too soon — by mocking Wales’s failure to reach the World Cup final.
Head coach Jones was in a bullish mood as he reflected on his side’s magnificent victory over the All Blacks and issued positive bulletins on Jonny May and the other minor English casualties from last weekend.
Jones admitted that England will have to brace themselves for a formidable physical challenge when they lock horns with South Africa on Saturday to decide who wins the Webb Ellis Cup.
Gatland’s weakened Welsh team suffered a 19-16 last-four loss to the Springboks on Sunday and he cast doubt on England’s ability to reach the same heights they did against his New Zealand countrymen. ‘We have seen in previous World Cups that teams sometimes play their final in the semi-finals,’ Gatland said. ‘It will be interesting to see how England are.’
When this was put to Jones yesterday, he fired back emphatically, saying: ‘Can you just send my best wishes to Warren to make sure he enjoys the third and fourth-place play-off?’
It was a blunt jibe, as Gatland’s Wales regime will end with the so-called ‘bronze final’ on Friday, when his injury-ravaged squad must somehow summon the will to confront angry All Blacks. Jones will this week prepare his England squad for the threat posed by the massive Boks — whether they are predictably direct or change their gameplan to try to catch the favourites off guard.
‘We’re prepared for the unexpected,’ Jones said. ‘We know they can play differently, we’re aware of that, but we also know that they are going to come through the front door. There are not many Springbok teams that don’t come through the front door.
‘So we’ve got to be ready at the front door and have enough cover at the back door, too.’
Having been in attendance when Rassie Erasmus’s side clinched their place in the showpiece decider courtesy of a Damian de Allende try and some assured goal-kicking by Handre Pollard, Jones is gearing up for opponents whose campaign is a triumph of substance over style.
He noted the impact made against Wales by their imposing and experienced replacement forwards, men such as Malcolm Marx and Francois Louw.
‘It was a tough old game,’ said Jones. ‘It was interesting. Both the coaches and captains said they anticipated the game to be an arm-wrestle and it was.
‘It was a tough, exacting semifinal. That’s what you expect at the World Cup.
‘We are looking forward to playing South Africa. They won a tough semi-final and when you are in the final of a World Cup, you’ve done a lot of things right. They are a
massively aggressive, physical pack. They probably played their stronger team in the second half as opposed to the first.
‘They are going to be a difficult side to beat. We are going to enjoy the preparations this week.
‘We know a couple of areas that we think we can expose in them and we’ll make sure we are well prepared in those areas.’
With England fans clamouring to obtain tickets for the final and a spike in flight bookings to Tokyo, Jones expressed satisfaction that his team are helping to create a national feelgood factor in this time of political turmoil.
‘It’s great,’ he said. ‘You give the country something to cheer about — and with Brexit at the moment they probably need something to cheer about. It’s a job of the team to make the country happy.’
Leicester wing May had to hurriedly recover from a hamstring injury to take part in the victory over New Zealand, but he went off early in the second half, leading to fears that he may miss the final. Those fears appear to be unfounded. May suffered a dead leg but expects to be available to retain his place wide on the left — where he has long since become a fixture.
Asked about the prolific finisher, Jones said: ‘ he’s pretty good. We had a walkthrough this morning and we had to tell Jonny to slow down a bit. he is probably in better condition than he was last week at this stage. Immeasurably better.
‘Owen Farrell is a bit sore, but he will be fine. We’ve got a few others carrying bumps and bruises because it was a tough game.’
England’s stirring deeds against the champions three days ago highlighted the supreme coaching which has elevated them to such towering heights. Jones duly paid tribute to the men whose work behind the scenes had brought such a tangible reward.
‘The assistant coaches have done an outstanding job,’ he said. ‘If you look at the percentage of work, I should probably give my money back... but I won’t!
‘Steve Borthwick and hats (Neal hatley) have done a great job with the forwards.
‘John Mitchell has improved our defence. Paul Gustard did an outstanding job for us, but John has come in and given us something a little bit different. The boys love working with him. And Wisey (Scott Wisemantel) is as mad as ever. he’s like a cut snake!
‘he’s got a great relationship with the players, he’s fun and he’s added a lot to our coaching staff.’