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Stand by for more boring England rugby: 'You never want your attack to be in place too far ahead of the World Cup'
Eddie Jones has revealed he is no hurry to finesse the England attack any time soon, claiming that defence and breakdown are the priorities as they seek to add an Autumn Nations Cup title to the Six Nations trophy they clinched last month.
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Despite recent wins over Italy, Georgia and Ireland, England have been criticised for lacking front foot flair. It wasn’t until near the finish that they finally managed to secure the four-try bonus point necessary for them to win the Six Nations.
They were also heavily dependant on their pack against Georgia, hooker Jamie George walking away with a try hat-trick off the maul, while they were content last weekend allow Ireland to have the majority share of possession in a contest where Jonny May’s second try was the only real piece of jump-from-your-seat excitement.
Coach Jones, though, has headed to Llanelli to take on Wales this Saturday not the slightest bit worried about the limited England approach with the ball in hand, claiming it’s not something he will focus in on massively until the 2023 World Cup in France is on the horizon.
“You never want your attack to be in place too far ahead of the World Cup because you’re giving the opposition too much chance,” explained the England coach a year on from his team’s 2019 defeat in the final to South Africa.
"The back row, Underhill and Curry, what did they make, 7,400 tackles or something between them? It's just madness"
– Last weekend's action didn't have the @TheRugbyPod jumping from its seat #AutumnNationsCuphttps://t.co/368188OPty
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 24, 2020
“What you want your attack to be is predictable to you and unpredictable to the opposition. Attack is always the last thing you develop before a World Cup campaign because you want to go into that with an attack that is unpredictable to the opposition.
“The more you become successful the more you become analysed – now you even get analysed on what you say during the game. No one used ever analyse those things but now those things get analysed.
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“You do a good play or your play a certain shape and it’s on every website. Every coach is looking at it, tearing it apart, so attack is something you want to build up very slowly and ultimately we want to win the World Cup. That is the main goal but for this week we just need our attack to be good enough for the game.
“We aspire to be the greatest team, we want to be one of those teams where people sit around the pub and they speak about the England team of the 2020s as being one of those great teams that people wanted to watch, that they play with such passion and pride and intensity that it made you jump out of your chair and made you want to watch them play.
“We can’t control when that can happen but we are working towards that as hard as we can and there is building blocks to building a team. In Test match rugby you have got to have your defence and set-piece in play and the last building block is always attack and that comes on the back of having a great set-piece and a great defence.”
"Every team has got its big explosive ball carriers that grab the limelight, but who’s resourcing rucks, who’s doing that nitty gritty, the boring stuff?"#AutumnNationsCup #WALvENG ???????https://t.co/pJiq6LBGTe
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 26, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
‘radical’
1 Go to commentsCome back to Christchurch Robbie, please!
1 Go to commentsI think there is zero chance Sam Cane will be selected for another Test. There is simply no point except sentimentality. Razor is not sentimental- ask Wyatt Crocket. Razor is a ruthless selector
4 Go to comments> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
4 Go to commentswhat’s happening to Ian Peel?
1 Go to commentsAs a Crusaders fan , so disappointed , again.But I think Fergus Burke was all class for the Crusaders in his first game since October last year. Fletcher Newell , was so good at prop. Johnny McNicoll has been gold since returning from Wales. Noah Hotham brilliant , in a coming of age second season for the Crusaders.Jone Rova did really well at centre. The end of the game was tough.Sevu Reece , what a game/season in tough times.
1 Go to commentsFellas a balloon
3 Go to commentsBlues B team on display and made no race of it. By far the best team in SR with the Hurricanes barely getting past the winning post. Up the Blues 💙
7 Go to commentsWould be amazing to have Servette Genève reaching this level
3 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
4 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
7 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
7 Go to commentsSurely there’s a ‘no knobheads’ policy ?
3 Go to commentsWallaroos have no chance of beating the Black Ferns unless Canada upsets them in Christchurch tomorrow but I doubt that as well!
1 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Could the victim do a course to reverse the long term CTE damage from the cheapshot?
2 Go to comments