Our young guys did well says Eddie

ENGLAND head coach Eddie Jones heaped praise on his patched-up side who followed up last June’s final Test win over South Africa in the Cape Town rain.

“We worked hard today and got the result so the guys will be confident for New Zealand next weekend,” he said.

“We are a bloody good team. We’ve lost a few games but we played very well.

“We kept them on the back foot and when you are in an arm-wrestle the game is always going to break up. We did not take the chances that came our way but got the job done.”

Jones’ young and inexperienced pack including openside Tom Curry, who was injured and needed crutches at the end, No.8 Mark Wilson, who was man of the match, and blindside Brad Shields managed to compete full on in a physical war with a huge and vastly more battle-hardened Springboks forward brigade.

Jones said: “The young guys did really well but the whole team showed a lot of toughness in our play.

“It was a pity we could not get a try but I thought Jack Nowell was outstanding and our defence was superb.”

Jones also hit back at his critics and accused them of trying to get him the sack.

The head coach, who had seen the pressure build on his shoulders after five defeats in a row before winning the final Test against the Springboks in the summer, went on the attack.

Questions about Jones’ future have intensified going into the Autumn campaign with the RFU desperate for his side to get winning momentum with the World Cup less than a year away.

Jones said: “I don’t understand it. Why is the next game always the most important game? Because you want to sack me? You’re going to do it at some stage. You know that. If I stay long enough, you’re going to get me sacked.

“One day you’ll be happy. You’ll come in and say ‘Fantastic, we’ve got another bloke we can terrorise’. It was a good Test match. We’re happy, they’re not so happy.”

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus said: “It was a very hard physical game which could have gone either way at the end.”