EDDIE’S READY TO WIN UGLY
Entertainment not a top priority for England coach
EDDIE JONES says he couldn’t care less if England win ugly at Murrayfield tomorrow.
The Scots have been hailed as the great entertainers of this year’s Six Nations after beating France 32-26 in their second game of the tournament on February 11.
England ground out a 12-6 win over Wales the day before and Jones would be more than happy with a repeat result.
He said: “Test match rugby is about winning, it’s not about entertainment. If you want entertainment, watch Super Rugby.
“Don’t ask me about style because style is irrelevant. Style is Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Mont Blanc – they come in and out. But resilience and toughness stays and that is what we are trying to develop.
“Test match coaching is not as brutal as football but if you want to just entertain people, you generally find you are not in the job too long.”
Jones hit back at Scotland coach Gregor Townsend’s claims that England’s suffocating defence is built around bending the offside law.
The Aussie added: “We certainly don’t try to infringe. We try to play the game legally and ® we have referees in for training, so we understand the laws of the game. “We are constantly trying to improve in that area. We are not the best in the world and we want to be the best in the world.” The Jones era began with a dour 15-9 victory over the Scots in 2016. And he dug out footage of the first training session he had with the squad to remind himself of how much England had improved. Jones said: “I was thinking, ‘Goodness me, what have I got myself into here?’ – they weren’t fit. I thought, ‘This is going to be hard work’. “We have been looking at a bit of data and, conservatively, we have improved 40 per cent. Conservatively. And we have still got another 20 per cent to go.” Wales travel to Ireland, with defence coach Shaun Edwards looking to take up one of rugby’s top jobs. The former Wigan rugby league great is set to leave his role when head coach Warren Gatland departs after next year’s World Cup. He said: “If I get an offer as a head coach in rugby league or rugby union, I will listen to it.”