England end the year on a high
EASY WIN: TROUNCE WALLABIES 37-18 AT TWICKENHAM
Twickenham
England coach Eddie Jones was in buoyant mood as his side headed into a World Cup year on the back of a 37-18 victory over his native Australia. Victory meant England won three of their four November internationals, with the lone loss an agonising 16-15 defeat by world champions New Zealand.
In January, Jones had his England contract extended until 2021 – two years after the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
But the experienced coach had his position called into question by a run of five-straight defeats that spanned the Six Nations and the start of England’s tour of South Africa in June.
England stopped the rot with a 25-10 win over South Africa in the third and final Test, although the Springboks won the series 2-1.
“I think we took steps forward in South Africa,” said Jones.
“We’d had a tough Six Nations. We’d got some things wrong in planning, some things wrong in terms of where we were going as a team and we needed to regroup and we did that,” he said after Saturday’s win over the Wallabies at Twickenham.
“This series was a step forward and the 2019 Six Nations will be another step forward again.”
England’s next international will be the toughest assignment European rugby has to offer – a Six Nations opener away to defending Grand Slam champions Ireland, who this month succeeded where Jones’ side failed by beating the All Blacks 16-9.
Asked if he felt confident ahead of the Dublin clash on February 2, Jones replied: “Yeah, 100%.”
Jones, with England missing several injured players, was also enthused by the depth of talent at his disposal.
“We’ve got great competition. Consider today, we played without Mako [Vunipola], [Ellis] Genge, [Joe] Launchbury, [George] Kruis, Billy [Vunipola], [Chris] Robshaw, [Anthony] Watson, [Jonathan] Joseph, [Jack] Nowell and [Chris] Ashton. That’s for starters.
“To be the best in the world you’ve got to push hard.”
England wing Jonny May opened scoring with a try in just the second minute on Saturday.
Saturday’s result meant England had won all six of their Tests against Australia since Jones was appointed. –