EDDIE’S ERA IS ON THE LINE

Jones has targeted the World Cup since he took the job. If England lose today he can only be judged a failure

AN English golden age could be wrecked today by rivals in golden shirts. Four years of relative prosperity would end if Eddie Jones’ team lose to Australia in Oita.

Those are the sky-high stakes, as England are well aware. They are expected to beat the Wallabies for a seventh time in succession and progress to the last four.

If they fall at the quarter-final it would be considered a failure. Defeat is unthinkable.

Owen Farrell and his team-mates have gone from a bye week to a do- or- die week. After their final pool game against France was cancelled because of Typhoon Hagibis, England had an extended build-up to this match.

It has allowed them more time to come to terms with the scenario they face.

In Test rugby, Worldd Cups have become the be--all and end-all. Coaching ng regimes stand or fall l based on the outcome of these showpiece campaigns, no matter what has gone before.

Jones knows this, which is why he has for so long had one e priority event in the he diary: November 2, 2019 019 and the World Cup Finalinal at Yokohama Stadium.

Since the Australian took charge of England, there have been several peaks. The immediate salvage operation yielded a world recordequalling run of 17 Test victories, encompassing a first Grand Slam for 13 years and a 3-0 series whitewash of the Wallabies in June 2016.

There was another Six Nations title the following year.

These were fine achievements in their own right but are invariably viewed as precursors to the main event. This event.

In the best part of four years, under Jones, England have won 37 of the 47 Tests they have played, but it all comes down to this.

So many players have come and gone, there have been coaching changes, backroom staff changes, a captaincy change and tactical changes. The England team has evolved and, apart from the barren spell of five defeats in a row last year, there has been regular success. Vast sums have been spent in the pursuit of ultimate glory. Now it all comes down to this.

The RFU invested in Jones as a veteran coach with the credentials to end a cycle of World Cup misery.

England lost in the quarter-finals in 2011 and Martin Johnson was removed from his post. They went out after the pool stage four years ago and Stuart Lancaster was duly ousted. The world’s richest union — despite recent financial troubles — won’t want to be plunged into inquest mode again.

That is not what the RFU will be anticipating. England go into today’s showdown widely tipped to win. But Jones cannot deliver sporting sportin certainty. His Hi team are ranked third thi in the world and their th opponents are sixth, s but there have been upsets already at this tournament so another one here is i not out of the question. q Since S Michael Cheika’s Wallabies Wal beat Lancaster’s ter’s s side 33-13 at Twickenham h tto push the hosts off the precipice in 2015, England have beaten them six times out of six.

They are confident of making it seven when it really matters but one of the key questions in the build-up has been about the fear of being undercooked.

This English campaign has been strangely routine. They dispatched Tonga and the USA, as expected, before the clash with Argentina was rendered a non-contest by the early red card for Pumas lock Tomas Lavanini.

Then the game against France was called off so now, after a 14day hiatus, Jones’ men find themselves pitched into a win-or-bust fixture. They insist that they have been able to replicate Test match intensity in training. Today will tell if that is the case.

Jones has gambled with his selection by switching captain Farrell back to fly-half in the hope that he can rediscover prime form. George Ford has been dropped in the interests of enhancing the physicality of a team lauded as ‘warriors’ by their head coach. There are other gambles too, with Mako Vunipola and Henry Slade both starting despite lacking game-time.

Again, the official line is that training alleviates the problem. Again, time will tell if that is true.

The pack have become a formidable unit and they are capable of unleashing the ‘ brutality’ that Jones craves today from a stable set-piece platform and with a dangerous rolling maul.

But the Wallabies are not the pushovers up front that they were for so long. Their scrum has been much improved and their hooker, Tolu Latu, is a rampaging asset in open play.

There could be a battle royal at the breakdown where the renowned flanker pairing ‘Pooper’ — David Pocock and captain Michael Hooper — will be confronted by England rookies.

Tom Curry and Sam Underhill have brought dynamism, power and poaching class to England’s back row, and Jones’ so- called ‘Kamikaze Kids’ could gain the upper hand at the ruck at the expense of the Aussie pair.

The Wallabies are dangerous underdogs, but flaky ones too.

Their constant changes at halfback suggest a lack of clarity in their approach. Today they have gone with Will Genia at 9 and Christian Leali’ifano at 10.

Cheika’s team can unravel under pressure but they can also touch the stars. In early August, they routed the All Blacks 47-26 in Perth. A week later, they went to Eden Park and lost 36-0.

Once again, an ‘Ashes’ encounter will shatter the World Cup hopes of one of these top nations.

England owe Australia for the 2015 defeat. They beat the Wallabies at this stage in 2007 and 1995, and trumped Jones’ Australian team in the final in 2003, reversing the outcome of the 1991 final.

Under the roof at the Oita Dome, England must ensure that their Far East crusade isn’t ended before it is has really begun. They shouldn’t lose today and they must not lose, or they will be on a plane back to London tomorrow with their golden age ruined.