Eddie Jones. Picture: Screenshot/Twitter
England coach: I know how to secure that Springbok ‘scalp’
Eddie Jones says England will view Saturday’s clash against the Boks as a ‘final’ in what is a rematch of the 2019 World Cup title decider.
Eddie Jones. Picture: Screenshot/Twitter
The Boks have claimed two successive wins on their end-of-year tour, claiming victories over Wales and Scotland, which followed on from their memorable triumph over the All Blacks in their final Rugby Championship clash.
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This Saturday’s encounter against England is sure to be one of the most eagerly-anticipated battles of the year, with the two 2019 World Cup finalists meeting for the first time since that showpiece event.
Jones is renowned not only as one of world rugby’s most highly-regarded coaches, but also as someone who regularly engages in mind games before big Test matches.
Some of that verbal warfare has already appeared to be under way as Jones suggested England would be looking to do something “different” on Saturday.
“It’s the final game and we want to go into the Six Nations with a South African scalp. I worked with the Springboks for a year (in 2007) so I have a pretty reasonable understanding of what they try to do. That is one of the reasons we were successful with Japan, that we were able to take away a few things they are good at and expose them in a few areas.
“You have got to take away their scrum, take away their maul and successfully catch their high balls and not give them attacking opportunities.
“We were able to do that because we had four months to prepare for one game. With England, we will have to play differently to beat them because if you are taking on a heavyweight contest and you are fighting George Foreman, who can whack and whack, you have to do something different.
“We have got four days to come up with something different. And we will.”
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The Springboks will reclaim the No 1 world rugby ranking over beating the All Blacks this past weekend, and Jones added that they would give the South African side the respect deserved.
‘They are the World Cup champions and we are not. It an important Test and we want to finish off the autumn well — it is the final game of the autumn and we will see it as a final and we want to take them on.”
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