Jones delighted with the attitude in Cook Cup win
ENGLAND AUSTRALIA 32 15
EDDIE Jones was happy to see England adapt after another cornonavirus disrupted week to beat old rivals Australia and retain the Cook Cup.
Joe Marler tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday and fellow loosehead prop Ellis Genge joined his team-mate in contracting the virus three days later, which forced Bevan Rodd into an unexpected debut despite only joining the squad on Thursday.
There was another forward injury to deal with during the contest with Jamie George forced off, but tries by Freddie Steward and Jamie Blamire bookended a hard-fought contest with the Wallabies, who suffered an eighth straight defeat to England.
Jones said: “We have had a fairly disrupted week. We have had two Covid positives and a young prop come in on Thursday, have one training run and get promoted to starting guy.
“We lost Jamie George at halftogether time, Kyle Sinckler got a bad dead leg early in the first half so we had to battle today. We had to battle hard and I was really pleased with the attitude of the players.
“We predicted it would be more of a free-flowing game like Australia like to play but it turned out to be a penalty-heavy game, a lot of setpiece contests and kicking. I was pleased with the way we adapted our game and fought through it. I was also really pleased with the way our finishers finished the game.”
Blamire was one of the England replacements to make his mark, crossing over for the sixth time for his country and continuing his record of scoring in all four of his international appearances.
Debutant Rodd also received praise from Jones for a “remarkable effort” but the majority of eyes ahead of kick-off were on the new 10-12 axis of Marcus Smith and captain Owen Farrell.
The duo combined impressively to send Leicester full-back Steward away after seven minutes, and while they kicked a combined points total of 22, Jones knows there is plenty more to come from the pair.
He added: “They are a bit like two opening batsmen who haven’t batted together facing the new ball for the first time. Every time they bat after this, they will be better. I thought the first try we scored is probably one of the best tries I’ve seen from an England side; our handling, our running lines, hitting the holes, it was outstanding and we want to do more of that.
“We are aggressive about wanting to do more, but it’s just not going to happen. I thought that was really promising from those two guys.”
England will need to assess George after his knee injury but Farrell, who also went off, insisted his withdrawal was only due to a “bang on the ankle” with attention turning to South Africa’s visit next week. Jones may have Marler back too with his isolation set to end on Thursday.
England: Steward; Tuilagi, Slade, Farrell (Malins 68), May; Smith, Youngs (Quirke 72); Rodd (Davison 72), George (Blamire 41), Sinckler (Stuart 72), Itoje, Hill (Ewels 74), Lawes (Simmonds 74), Underhill (Dombrandt 57), Curry. Scorers – Tries: Steward, Blamire. Cons: Farrell, Smith. Pens: Farrell 5, Smith.
Australia: Beale; Kellaway, Ikitau, Paisami, Wright (Perese 67); O’Connor (Lolesio 74), White (McDermott
73), Bell (Robertson 73), Fainga’a (Latu 65), Slipper (Hoskins 68), Arnold (Skelton 63), Rodda, Leota, Hooper (Samu 55), Valetini.
Scorers – Pens: O’Connor 5.
Sin Bin: Wright (30), Bell (48).
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa).