Wears his heart on his sleeve

Tough guy Eddie shows he

from NEIL SQUIRES in Yokohama

EDDIE JONES will be wearing two bracelets at the Rugby World Cup final that he has picked up on his travels at Japan 2019.

One is black, from Oita; the other is white, from Miyazaki. They represent fighting spirit.

Jones has always been a fighter, right from the days when he emerged as an undersized hooker at Matraville High School in Sydney, a wrong-side-of-the-tracks establishment which shook up the Australian rugby union community.

Sometimes in his long coaching career he has picked the right fights, sometimes the wrong ones, but the experience has allowed him to deliver a masterclass at this World Cup.

And a 59 it has all come together for him with England in Japan.

Three previous World Cups have taught him all there is to know about tournament rugby. The rhythm, the pace, when to push, when to hold back.

The Australian is a workaholic, operating on between three and four hours sleep a night. He hammers his support staff but has learned to balance his demands on his players.

Today England have their biggest rugby match for 12 years. They have trained less for it than for any match in Jones’ time in charge. At this stage of a tournament, less is more.

The players trust in him because he has been there and done it at World Cups – reaching a final with Australia, winning it as an assistant with South Africa and springing the shock of all shocks on the Springboks with Japan four years ago.

He is direct with the painfully so – but the simple.

They appreciate the clarity he brings to the England environment.

He came into the job four years ago with an idea of the type of rugby which would work best for England.

And, for all the tweaks with twin playmakers, the foundation stones on which it has been built have remained consistent. “I wanted to players – sometime message is always

2015 head coach – Played 23 Won 21 Lost 2

develop a power style of rugby as England have tough, big players,” said Jones.

“It suited us to play a power style of rugby and we will be tested on Saturday as we are playing against the other most powerful team in the world.”

The bonus for the RFU when they hired him was his inside knowledge of Japan and that has proven invaluable for England’s campaign.

The country has made for a wonderful warm host for the tournament – and will be for next year’s Olympics – but it has also had its challenges.

Having lived in the country, Jones was across them before most, flagging up months in advance the potential difficulties of the humid conditions which the group stages were played in and the possibility of bigger meteorological disruption at this time of year.

There have been two typhoons England have been in the Far East.

The squad arrived in the backdraft of the first one and found themselves marooned at Narita while

Airport for five hours with the transport network shut down. The players’ response?

No flapping, just the first of countless games of tennis ball cricket on this trip. The second, with a far more serious impact, came from Typhoon Hagibis and led to the cancellation of England’s group game against France.

Jones had the squad out of Tokyo and the looming lockdown and out to the beach resort of Miyazaki in a flash.

They showed up in Oita on the money for the quarter-final against Australia.

The semi-final against the All Blacks was Jones’ finest hour so far with England.

The psychological approach of a dubious spying tale and a pressure transfer strategy freed up his players and backed the world champions into a corner they could not escape from.

Is there a finer hour to come? Today we find out. Four years distilled into 80 minutes.

‘No fear’ is the battle cry. With Jones charge, it should be ‘no worries.’ in