SEXTON HAS IRISH ON UP DOWN UNDER
JONES: I WISH I KNEW WHY WE CAN’T DEFEND A LEAD
EDDIE JONES owned up to an England “horror show” as South Africa won the series with a match to spare.
In a nightmarish repeat of their Ellis Park collapse a week ago, Jones’ team opened up a big early lead – only to again cough it up with shocking indiscipline.
So much for England’s bold pre-tour assertion that they would sweep the series 3-0. They might get the margin right but they are miles off being on the right end of it.
High-altitude conditions took their toll on the England team – a big contrast to their base 400 miles away in Durban.
At the final whistle their frustration boiled over, with Ben Youngs storming out of a TV interview and Joe Marler swearing at a fan before Mike Brown continued the verbal exchange.
Jones admitted: “It was like a horror movie wasn’t it – almost a re-run of last week. Painful, extremely painful.”
Defeat was bad enough given that it is England’s fifth in a row – six if you include the non-cap loss to the Barbarians. It is their worst run since 2014.
But Youngs made things worse with his post-match response – earning a rebuke from Sir Clive Woodward.
“That’s taken over the match almost – you just cannot react like that,” Woodward told Sky Sports. “You have got to be statesmanlike in those situations. I really didn’t like that.”
Woodward added that JOHNNY SEXTON and a fired-up pack sparked Ireland to victory in the Second Test, in Melbourne.
It kept alive their chances of winning the three-Test series in Sydney next week. Fly half Sexton (right) combined with scrum half Conor Murray to run their attack and slotted 16 points with the boot.
Winger Andrew Conway and tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong England are now in a “big hole”. He said: “They are just playing Barbarian-style rugby at the moment – and trying to be too flash. You can’t do that at this level.”
Most concerning is that they appear to have only a 20-minute gameplan before the wheels come off.
In Johannesburg they blew a 21-point lead amassed in the first quarter. Here their lead was 12 points following superb tries from Brown and Jonny May.
But the Springboks knew there was no need to panic and sure enough their opponents let also crossed for the visitors. Joe Schmidt’s team controlled the ball and dominated territory, but the Aussies scored three tries via Kurtley Beale, Taniela Tupou, and a first-half penalty try. themselves down with individual errors and indiscipline. The penalty count was not as bad as the 17 shipped seven days ago, but 13 was still too many to win at altitude. Jones (left) seems to have run out of answers, and with the World Cup just 14 months away the Rugby Football Union has a tough decision to make. Asked why England are unable to defend a lead, he replied: “I wish I knew. It’s tough at the minute. “No one likes to lose five games in a row. We have been through an exceptional period and now we’re going through this tough period.” He added: “The players and coaches are putting in plenty of effort but for some reason we’re just not handling key moments of the game well.”