WE’LL SMASH YOU
Jones promises to give Australia the Bodyline treatment
ENGLAND expects. At a time of year and in a part of the world where there has been so much pain for them over so many years, they are ready to be the ones who inflict it this time.
Australia have been warned — these visitors mean business. Those in the Red Rose camp are not here to show deference to the World Cup Finalists and strive manfully to make a game of it in the series opener at Suncorp Stadium this morning. They are primed to inflict a first, damaging wound on the Wallabies.
‘We’re going to win on Saturday,’ declared head coach Eddie Jones, as he contemplated a first Test which has generated so much hype and anticipation in these parts.
There is huge respect for the hosts, but not the merest hint of an English inferiority complex. Under this regime, they are on a run of six wins from six matches, and momentum has enhanced confidence about what awaits.
If England are to fall short, it won’t be because they have already signed off for the summer with weary minds. They are men on a mission to make history and Australia are alive to the danger posed by these pumped-up Poms.
Captain Dylan Hartley summed up the mood among the visitors.
‘We believe we can win here,’ he said. ‘We expect to win. In years gone by, it might have been games tagged on at the end of the year, but the way we’ve prepared for this tour, the way we’ve made this group exclusive — it’s special to be here.
‘If you’re tired and want a holiday, you can go home. We’ve brought the best squad here, a squad hungry to compete and a squad hungry to climb the world rankings.
‘We have a squad that is hungry to win, we believe we can and we have every expectation of each other to prepare accordingly.’
Aside from the interest Down Under in the presence of former NRL rugby league icon Ben Te’o in the England squad, there have been two primary plots dominating the build-up to this intriguing contest. The first has been the homecoming of Jones and his match-up with former club-mate Michael Cheika, the Wallabies’ head coach. The second concerns all the English talk of Bodyline, as a label for their planned physical onslaught.
Jones has been showing his players footage of the infamous Bodyline Ashes series, when England’s cricketers beat a Don Bradman-inspired Australia in the 1930s by using aggressive tactics.
The scene has been set, then, for a truly ferocious confrontation. Both sides are armed and ready.
‘The game’s going to go to a different level on Saturday,’ said Jones. ‘Australia are going to be absolutely rampant.
‘This is the first Test they’ve played with expectation on them. They will be breathing fire. It’s going to be a whole different ball game on Saturday.
‘Some of our players will grow and we hope they all grow, but there might be a couple of them that shrink. If that happens, then that’s a great learning experience for them. We want them to have those experiences now, rather than during the World Cup.’
Asked if his side will be breathing fire, too, Jones added: ‘That’s part of the English DNA. Every good English side, whether it’s in cricket or rugby, they want to smash people. The whole side is excited. We set out at the start of the Six Nations to be the most dominant team in Europe. We achieved that.
‘Now we’ve got an opportunity to break into the top three in the world. So here goes — let’s swing the bat and see how we go.’
There are multiple elements involved in the Bodyline strategy. Part one invariably involves control of the set-piece contest, which will mean England reversing their recent scrum fortunes, notably the World Cup debacle against these opponents. They are primed for that priority target, after bringing in Neal Hatley from Bath as a new Test scrum guru. Jones is expecting sparks to fly. ‘I reckon the first scrum’s going to be fun,’ he said. All over the field, there will be mighty collisions. This match is shaping up to be a duel between powerful rivals who have selected line-ups to negate each other’s imposing threats. Australia have brought in the towering ‘threestorey’ Rory Arnold at lock to help combat England’s outstanding line-out operation and all-round forward clout. Cheika has also added Samu Kerevi’s ball-carrying force to the midfield mix, but the English retort is a strong and revitalised Luther Burrell. Owen Farrell is on a roll and he can dictate proceedings at No10, but will surely find himself eclipsed by opposite number Bernard Foley if England lose the breakdown battle — as they did so comprehensively at the World Cup.
Maro Itoje’s emergence should help partially redress the balance as he is such an influential presence over the ball, but Jones will demand an aggressive, collective blitz at the ruck to negate the poaching class of David Pocock, Michael Hooper and Scott Fardy.
Both teams will show similar intent — to achieve an alliance of brutal power and high-tempo ambition. It is shaping up to be a classic Test and series. It is building up to be a close contest today, and for the next two weeks.
In the professional era, England’s two Tests against Australia in this city have been one-sided massacres, won 127-15 on aggregate by the home side.
Jones’ men believe they are not here as cannon fodder — not this time.