Jones toasts win by cranking up mind games with Wales
Coach fires barbs for Grand Slam eliminator Mako Vunipola and Curry add to injury woes
England head coach Eddie Jones wasted no time in starting the mind games ahead of the Six Nations Grand Slam eliminator against Wales by vowing to avenge comments by Warren Gatland last year that the sides were “poles apart”.
England moved two points clear of Wales at the top of the Guinness Six Nations table after a crushing 44-8 victory against France here that included a stunning 29-minute hat-trick by wing Jonny May.
The result left England and Wales, who equalled their record run of 11 successive Test wins with a 26-15 victory over Italy in Rome on Saturday, as the only two unbeaten sides in the championship, setting up their match at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday week as the potential title decider.
Within minutes of yesterday’s final whistle, Jones had gone on to the front foot, insisting his side would “have a message” for Wales and revealed that he had not forgotten the comments by Gatland when his Wales team had moved ahead of England in the world rankings last year after Jones’s side had suffered five successive defeats.
“All I know is that we are playing against the greatest Welsh side ever. So that is enough for me,” said Jones, whose side jumped ahead of Wales in world rankings again last week, up to third place, following the victory over Ireland.
“I hear all the commentary, and that is what everyone is saying. So, how can I argue with the commentary?
“Any time England plays Wales it is a special match, isn’t it? Because of the history of the two countries and the history of rugby between the two countries, it’s special.
“You have a Welsh team that is doing so well, and if I remember the comments [last year], we weren’t doing so well, and the gap between us was massive. So, let’s see how big the gap is next Saturday. The only message we can send is Saturday week. We will have a message on Saturday week, but we will leave it until then.”
England have won just three of their past eight Cardiff Test matches, but Jones, victorious there in 2017, insisted his side would not be intimidated by the Millennium Stadium atmosphere.
“I have never found it to be a fortress,” Jones added. “You go there, and it is a tough game. They are a good side, loud crowd – but it has never been a fortress to me.”
Asked what qualities his side would need to show to beat Wales, Jones added: “We need to be unbelievably physical.
“Every Warren Gatland side is very physical. They contest the breakdown hard. They’re highly skilled at the breakdown.
“Defensively, they’re well drilled by Shaun Edwards and they have points in them. That’s why they’ve been able to have the greatest run ever. So, the first challenge when you play Wales is to win the physical challenge.”
Jones said his side had “left 15 to 20 points on the field” against France and insisted there was “a lot more in this team”.
“We understand that and we’re committed to being the very best we can be,” he added. “When we get back together on Wednesday, we’ll start the process of how we can get better again.
“We’d all like to play the perfect game. It’s like when you play golf. You don’t want to hit any bad shots but the reality of sport is that you make mistakes. The opposition either makes you make mistakes, fatigue makes you make mistakes or it’s just the lack of cohesion between the players.
“It wasn’t the perfect game, but it also says to us how much more we have in us, and that’s exciting.” Mako Vunipola could be a doubt for the trip to Cardiff after the Saracens prop picked up an ankle injury, while Tom Curry required stitches to a deep gash to his forehead that left his face soaked in blood. Although Dylan Hartley is not expected to be selected because of a knee injury, Jones did not rule out the possibility that Maro Itoje could be available despite suffering a medial ligament tear during the victory over Ireland on Feb 2. “Maro will definitely be back into camp, yeah,” Jones added. “Whether he’s available for Wales is probably more of a long shot, but you never know – he’s got quite freakish recuperative powers, so we’ll wait and see. It’ll be handy to bring him off the bench.”