Eddie goads Gatland with ‘best-ever’ jibe

EddiE JonEs fired the first shot ahead of England’s Grand slam eliminator, vowing to make Wales coach Warren Gatland eat his words.

After watching his side thrash France, the Australian dug up Gatland’s comments from last year when he claimed the two nations were ‘poles apart’.

England have since moved back ahead of Wales in the world rankings and Jones threw in a tongue-incheek comment.

‘We’re playing the greatest Welsh side ever — we’re going to have to be at our absolute best,’ he said.

‘You have a Welsh team that is doing so well and, if i remember the comments last year, we weren’t doing so well and the gap between us was massive… so let’s see how big the gap is next saturday,’ he added. ‘The only message we can send is saturday week. We will have a message on saturday week, but we will leave it until then.’

Lock Maro itoje is a ‘long shot’ to recover from a knee injury for the trip to Cardiff, and prop Mako Vunipola is a doubt after injuring his ankle. England have two days off before re-grouping on Wednesday.

‘We need to be unbelievably physical,’ said Jones, who has won all four of his games against Wales as England coach. ‘ Every Warren Gatland side is very physical. They contest the breakdown hard. defensively they’re well drilled by shaun Edwards and they have points in them. That’s why they’ve been able to have the greatest run ever.

‘The first challenge when you play Wales is to win the physical challenge. You go there and it is a tough game, they are a good side, loud crowd — but it has never been a fortress to me.’

Jones saved his highest praise for wing Jonny May, saying: ‘Jonny May’s like when you go to the park and you see someone with a tennis ball and they throw it, the dog runs 100mph and chases it and brings it back. He does that pretty well.’