We can’t beat Boks by sipping beer, says Jones

ENGLAND coach Eddie Jones has said there will be no letting up in the intensity of training as his side prepares for the November internationals with a camp in Portugal.

England face South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia in the international break and Jones has no plans to wrap his players in cotton wool before they take on four physical sides, particularly the Springboks.

“We won’t be sipping beers in Portugal. There is nothing to change. Injuries are part of rugby,” Jones told British media.

“We want to train with intensity and need to do so if we are to beat the Springboks whom we haven’t beaten since 2006.

“We need to be able to play against their brutal, go-forward type of game. South Africans don’t mind you having the ball and they don’t mind hurting you. We have got a big job ahead in Portugal because we have 10 (injured) guys not there.

“That leaves a tactical gap, a physical gap and a social gap. We have got to fill in all of those gaps and we have got a week in Portugal to do that before we start Test match preparation.”

Jones recently held ‘amicable’ talks with various English clubs who had expressed concerns over about the intensity of a recent training camp, which left Wasps flanker Sam Jones, Bath’s Anthony Watson and Exeter winger Jack Nowell with long-term injuries. – Reuters