Jones calls in mystery
EDDIE JONES is hoping a woman’s touch can toughen up England ahead of the World Cup.
The England coach admits his side have a mental weakness when it comes to finishing off games when opponents are there for the taking.
There can be no bigger proof than the staggering events at Twickenham on Saturday, when England blew a 31-point lead to come within a whisker of the greatest defeat in history.
In the end it took a last-gasp try and conversion from replacement George Ford to earn England a draw and deny a depleted Scotland.
But dazed supporters staggering from the stadium were still left in no doubt that Jones’ side have a major problem to overcome if they’re to have a genuine chance of winning in Japan later this year. Which is strange considering Jones has been through three psychologists since then and masterminded a winning streak of 18 games at one stage.
But the defiant Aussie is now planning to bring in an unnamed female who specialises in what goes on between the ears.
“It’s a combination of personnel,” he said. “But I’ve got one person that’s going to help us that’s a bit of an expert.
“I’m not sharing that name with you now. I haven’t used her before. She deals with things up here (points to his head). It’s about how the team thinks under pressure.”
The first patient should be England captain Owen Farrell, whose head was spinning more than most and was hauled off with 20 minutes remaining.
England had earlier ran riot, scoring
After the break the Scots turned England’s world upside down with six unanswered tries. Jones had mocked his rivals for not winning this fixture here since 1983 – but the joke was on him.
Stuart McInally, Darcy Graham (twice), Magnus Bradbury and Finn Russell all crossed in a second-half blitz that made it 31-31.
Sam Johnson’s touchdown late on looked to have completed the fairy tale before Ford intervened to salvage something from the wreckage for a shell-shocked England.
Scrum-half Ben Youngs said: “I just think we need a better understanding of where the momentum of the game is and what we want at that moment.
“We went from being in complete control to being completely out of control. We have got to figure out why and how we stop gifting teams momentum.”