EDS WILL ROLL NOW
But Jones insists he’s still the best man
EDDIE JONES claimed he’s still the best man to coach England despite his team’s horror show in Dublin.
The World Cup finalists were thrashed by an Ireland side coached by Andy Farrell and Mike Catt – two men who lost their England jobs when Jones came to power.
It left England slumped in fifth place above only whipping boys Italy in the table.
And former England coach Sir Clive Woodward said: “Somebody at Twickenham has to question Eddie Jones. We are going backwards at a rate of knots.” Jones has presided over England’s worst-ever Six Nations, the most points conceded in a campaign and a first Triple Crown of defeats against Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1976.
Yet head coach Jones refused to accept that he had lost his players or that there is now a disconnect between the team and the public.
“I don’t think that’s the case, I don’t know what you are talking about,” said the Australian.
“We need to assess where we are going as, as I’ve said all along, we are going through a transition period and this is almost a natural time for that to happen with two years until the World Cup.
“But am I still getting through? Most definitely. I don’t think that’s the issue. If it was I wouldn’t be coaching the team.” Seven days after beating France in thrilling fashion, England reverted to the shambles of Cardiff and the Calcutta Cup.
It’s too easy to blame the eve-of-game disruption of losing full-back Max Malins to injury and having to rip up the plan of playing Elliot Daly at centre.
It was of course a setback but that can’t be used as mitigation for England being so utterly outplayed.
The memory of France was gone even before Ireland scored their two brilliant first-half tries.
England were blown away as Robbie Henshaw bullied the visitors singlehandedly in the opening quarter with choke tackles and turnover penalties. England couldn’t live with Ireland’s accuracy, the variety of their attack, the dominance of their collisions, their sheer understanding of what they wanted to do.
Jones’ team lacked the sort of awareness Ireland showed when Rob Herring and Jack Conan combined at a lineout to send Keith Earls to the try-line through a flatfooted England defence. Although Owen Farrell responded by reaching 500 points in Six Nations rugby, Ireland rendered that personal milestone irrelevant as they worked England one way then the other for Conan to finish a
I am still getting
through. Most definitely. I don’t think that’s the issue
superb move. England had no answer. Daly tried his damnedest to make something happen and Tom Curry worked himself to the bone.
But these were solo plays. The collective effort was clueless; aimless kicks and dead-end runs, almost always behind the gainline.
With an hour gone the game was long lost. Ireland led 26-6 and could afford to lose two players to cards and still cruise home.
Bundee Aki saw red for a shot to Billy Vunipola’s head, then Conor Murray picked up a yellow.
It allowed England the space to grab late tries through Ben Youngs and Jonny May.
It might have taken some of the sting out of the scoreboard but nobody was fooled and it didn’t mask a dismal display.
And scrum-half Ben Youngs spoke of his devastation after England were ripped to shreds in front of Lions boss Warren Gatland.
“Any loss is hard to take but when you gift them such a leg-up it’s really hard,” said England’s centurion No.9. No one wants to perform bigger than us. So of course it’s disappointing.
“It’s not through lack of effort, but it’s not been channelled in the right way at times.”
Man-of-the-match Henshaw said: “It was a massively emotional performance, and you are playing England, so you have to be up for it. It was a good performance from us.”
Tries: Earls, Conan; Pens: Sexton (6); Cons: Sexton (2) ENGLAND: Tries: B Youngs, May; Pens: Farrell (2); Cons: Daly