Jones says his coaching is ‘not good enough’ as England go down again

FRANCE 22 16

Eddie Jones admitted his coaching “isn’t good enough” as the England head coach pondered changes to the team to meet new Six Nations champions Ireland at Twickenham this weekend.

England slumped to a second successive defeat, 22-16 in France on Saturday afternoon, as the Grand Slamchasing Irish secured the title with a match to spare by beating Scotland in Dublin.

Wasps No 8 Nathan Hughes will miss the Ireland match with a recurrence of his knee injury and Jones is waiting to discover whether captain Dylan Hartley’s calf problem has cleared.

There is public pressure for changes in other key areas, too, as Jones’s side have slipped below the Irish to No 3 in the world rankings and now face finishing as low as fifth in the Six Nations table. “Our players are used to playing a certain way and we’re finding it hard to change their habits,” said Jones, whose team won the Six Nations in 2016 and 2017. “That’s our responsibility and my coaching is not good enough. We’re being exposed in certain areas, because when you get under pressure, old habits come back. We’ve got to break old habits and that’s one of the hardest things in life to do.

“A lot of it has got to do with power. We have to assess where we go with the team. The game has changed and we’re not necessarily well equipped to handle it, so we’ve got to find different ways to handle it. It’s better happening now because it gives us a chance to fix it before the World Cup [in 2019].”

Ireland’s 28-8 victory over Scotland meant England had to win with a bonus point to take their title defence to the final weekend. But they crossed the line just once, when Jonny May touched down with seven minutes left. Maxime Machenaud converted four penalties and Lionel Beauxis added another for the French, who were awarded a penalty try to break a 9-9 deadlock in the 49th minute.

May promised a better performance when the deposed champions return to their home stadium.

“We do owe the country,” said the winger. “We have an opportunity when we wear that shirt to inspire them and it hasn’t been good enough in the last couple of weeks.”