Jones to call up ‘pressure coach’ after Scotland slump

Eddie Jones will bring in a specialist coachtohelphissideplaybeterunderpressureater a stunning Six Nations implosion against Scotland raised questions about the team’s ability to mount a challenge for this year’s World Cup in Japan.

Jones loves cricket and his England side sometimes give the appearance of being ‘flat-track bullies’ who struggle when a decent opponent has the temerity to play well against them for a spell in a match. This was evident in their second-half slump from a winning position during a defeat by eventual Grand Slam champions Wales in Cardiff last month and even more apparent in Saturday’s astounding Calcuta Cup clash with Scotland.

England surged into a 31-0 lead by 30 minutes on their Twickenham home ground before a thrilling match ended in a 38-38 draw, with the Scots only denied a famous victory by replacement fly-half George Ford’s converted stoppage-time try.

It was an extraordinary finish to a Six Nations that had started so promisingly for England with a win away to defending champions Ireland, with their last competitive match before the World Cup gets underway in September leaving Jones’ men with some awkward questions.

Jones, however, believes the problems are “fixable” in the intervening months even though he traces their origin back to the last World Cup four years ago when hosts England, then coached by Stuart Lancaster, suffered an embarrassing firstround exit ater pool defeats by Wales and Australia.

Those reverses led the Rugby Football Union to sack Lancaster and appoint experienced Australian coach Jones, who was in charge of the Wallaby side that lost the 2003 World Cup to an England team under the control of Clive Woodward -- famous for his mantra of TCUP or Thinking Correctly Under Pressure.