By Tom Jeffreys
In typical Eddie Jones fashion the Japan head coach, following his side’s 59-14 defeat to England on his Twickenham homecoming, teased at a new book in which he’ll reply to Danny Care’s incendiary claims that he was a bully whilst coaching England.
Rumoured to have been restricted from carrying out media duties in the week by Japanese hierarchy, Jones was familiarly provocative in the press conference as he diagnosed his team’s loss to a lack of experience.
Eddie Jones
“[My return] wasn’t bad until some clown abused me going down at half time, “said Jones.
“But if there’s only one clown in 81,000, it’s not too bad, so it was good mate. Obviously disappointed with the result but it’s always good coming to the home of rugby.
“For our players to experience that, having experienced Stade de France and now Twickenham, it’s like gold to them, the knowledge of what they need to do to be able to compete and win in this area”.
Addressing the controversy heading into the game, Jones said “I’ve got a new book deal, just signed it today.
It’s called ‘Caring about Care’, so you’ll get all the details in that. I’ve got pre-order forms, I’m trying to do a deal with the Daily Mail but we haven’t come to an agreement yet but if you want to read about it, there you go.
“I’m very serious mate! If you want to read about it, you can read about it in my book,
that’s how you get headlines!”
Blitz Defence
On England, Jones was impressed with their pressure, Japan the first side this Autumn to properly succumb to the blitz defence despite two glimpses of resistance, most evidently in Naoto Saito’s try.
Whilst no English tries came directly from it, the hosts dominated field position and scored a satisfactory mix of set piece, close range tries through braces from both hookers Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie, as well as well-executed scores out wide, most notably the George Furbank score earned by an outrageous offload by previous Jones protégé Tommy Freeman.
“Congratulations to England”, said Jones, “and to Steve, I’m glad he won’t have you blokes haunting him for at least seven days anyway. I’m sure he’s going to enjoy his orange juice tonight!”
It was a vintage Jones press conference, but his side had failed to deliver on the pitch despite the murmurings through the week that he may have something special planned for his former side.
Jamie George
“We weren’t entirely sure what to expect from an Eddie Jones Japan team”, said England captain Jamie George.
“That gave us a good opportunity to reflect, and make it very clear what we want to be about, and in terms of the execution I thought it was fantastic.”
Whilst that reflection will commence properly now, with 69 days until England’s unenviable Six Nations opener away vs Ireland, scrutiny was inevitable this week given the immense frustration prompted by three losses from winning positions this Autumn.
“Fundamentally we’re frustrated with the results, especially the first three”, said George.
“There are different things we can learn from each game.
“When we reflect the Australia game in particular will be one we’re very frustrated with, we were very poor and didn’t look like us.”
For Borthwick, the Australia game looms large too, with 42 points conceded as Australia, who struggled to score vs Scotland earlier in the day, dismantled the blitz defence.
“We always want to put the opposition skillset under pressure”, insisted Borthwick, whose England win record now sits at 50% overall, but 42% since the blitz came into effect in the Six Nations.
“That’s fundamental, part of our game. When you start looking at the make up of our team, the athleticism, we’re trying to develop within it.
“That pressure’s good for us. Before the series started, the coaching team changed, so I’m really pleased with how this coaching team’s come together. We’ll make sure we’re even better come the six nations.”
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