Jones: Win gives England head start in 2023 World Cup race
Lynden breaks Wembley hoodoo as Cats win Papa John’s Trophy
Eddie Jones has thrown down the gauntlet by insisting England grabbed a head start on France in the race for the 2023 World Cup.
TriesfromAnthonyWatson andMaroItojehelpedEngland edge out the resurgent French 23-20 at Twickenham, ending Les Bleus’ Six Nations Grand Slam hopes.
Antoine Dupont and Damian Penaud crossed for France, butthevisitorsranoutofsteam and England’s savvier game management steered them back to winning ways.
France will host the 2023 World Cup and are already beingtoutedasamongthefavourites to lift the Webb Ellis Cup on home soil – but wily coach Jones insisted England are determinedtomatchthemstride for stride.
“They’re being described as the best team in the world,” said Jones.
“They are a good team, they are a quality team with quality players and they are well coached. And we said to our players before the game we’re going to be racing them to the World Cup.
“They are a good team, they’re developing, we’re developing, and it’s going to be a good race between the two of us.Andwegotabitofastarton it today.”
England’s ill-discipline and ragged tactics contributed heavily to their Six Nations losses to both Scotland and Wales, and Australian boss Jones had demanded an upsurge in those areas against France. The home side offered a greater balance between attack and containment, and certainly improved their disciplinaryapproach.AndJones nowbelievesEnglandareback ontrackintermsofdeveloping their game plan for the next World Cup.
“We’ve always had the plan post the 2019 World Cup that weneededtocreateagamethat wouldtakeustothenextWorld Cup,” said Jones.
“Butwealwaysfeltweneeded to develop our game, so we started that at the start of the Six Nations and we’re slowly, slowly getting better at getting the right balance in our game between passing, running and kicking. And today was probably another step forward.
“Weshowedareallygoodattitude,greatleadershipbyOwen(Farrell)andfullcredittothe players and coaches.
“I think Maro (Itoje) and Owen particularly stood out in terms of the way they led the team, they played at their best, and then contributed to show a lot of composure in terms of coping with difficult periods.”
England saw a late penalty won by replacement Ben Earl overturned and awarded instead to France, after referee AndrewBraceadmittedhehad made the wrong decision.
France captain Charles Ollivon had queried the referee’s decision,leavingEnglandboss JonesnotbestpleasedwithLes Bleus’ skipper’s influential intervention.
Test captains have long since excelled at swaying the officials one way or the other, butJonesstilljokedthatWorld Rugby must have introduced a “captain’schallenge”rulewithout England’s knowledge.
“We didn’t know about the captain’schallenge–wemissed out on the memo there, so I’ll need to check the computer and see what happened with that one,” said Jones.
“The decision got overturned, we didn’t know you could do that. I’ve been involved in rugby for a little bit of time, I’ve never seen that before, I’ve never been informed you could do that.
"If we knew that, Owen would have had his notebook out and made a note of when he could have challenged the referee.”