Rugby goes through cycles, that’s the beauty of the game – Jones

Eddie Jones rejects concerns that rugby’s current emphasis on defence is alienating prospective new fans as alarmist even though he accepts only purists will have enjoyed the Autumn Nations Cup.

England face a France team weakened by the unavailability of their best players in the tournament final at Twickenham on Sunday when it will be hoped that attacks finally ignite.

Workmanlike wins against Georgia, Ireland and Wales have established a sevenmatch winning run, but they have been founded on defence, set-piece and kicking, mirroring a wider trend in the game.

Disillusionment has grown over the lack of ambition, leading to fears that audiences will look elsewhere for entertainment. Jones, however, believes the sport will soon emerge from the doldrums.

“We go through cycles. The game is cyclical. We go through attack and defence cycles. And that’s the beauty of our game – it doesn’t sit still,” he said.

“The game evolves, changes, and we see it evolve and change all the time. I don’t agree with those comments. Just looking at rugby at the moment, it’s certainly a tough, physical game. A real game for the purists at the moment.

“It reminds me of the 2007

World Cup where defences were pretty dominant and kicking was one of the major ways to get ahead in the game.

“The next cycle is always an attacking one so let’s enjoy the defensive cycle we have at the moment and look forward to the attacking cycle when it comes.

“When that happens is always dependent on the laws – when we get quick ball we’re able to play with some space and some time.

“You just look at every side in the world now, they’re so much better organised in defence.Everyone’sgettingoffthe line hard and time and space are at a premium. Unless we are able to get quick ball it’s very difficult to play with any fluency.”

Jones insists there is a lack of consistency from referees, but this is a result of the limitations caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“One of the reasons why it is difficult at the moment is because referees aren’t getting together and there is a lack of face-to-face consolation of what we expect and what we need,” he said.

“Therefore we are getting quite wide variants of the way that the referees are applying the laws. And that is not contributing to the rugby maybe a lot of people want to see.”