Eddie Jones He warned his players of the “massive escalation” they face against Ireland on Saturday, indicating that England is at a disadvantage due to the lack of quality competition they have faced this fall.
England enjoyed an overall albeit unremarkable format 40-0 victory over Georgia On Saturday to move to the summit of the Fall Nations Cup rally, after two weeks of rusty 34-5 victory over Italy Six Nations Crown Seal. In horrific circumstances, England’s Scrum ground laid the foundations against Georgia, with Jones pleased with how his team had triumphed in their opponents’ traditional strength zone.
However, Jones is Ireland, which lost to France in Paris last month Before beating Wales 9 to 32 on FridayAnother suggestion altogether. Ireland has concerns about Johnny Sexton, who was knocked out of the Wells game with a hamstring injury, but Jones believes Andy Farrell is now making his mark on the team by introducing the New Zealand-born duo, James Lowe and Jamison Gibson Park, to the squad.
Addressing England’s opponents so far, Jones may be, strictly speaking, wrongly describing Italy as a second-tier country, but the world ranking seems to support his point with Georgia at 12th and Azure On the fourteenth. He said: “[Ireland is] A huge step. You just have to look at the rankings. It’s like moving on from playing [Kei] Nishikori to [Novak] Djokovic. The difficulty is that we played two second-tier countries and we will be playing against a team that had great preparations against Wales and France.
“[Ireland] Physically strong team, they have been at the top of world rugby for the past four or five years, in the first four or five teams. They clearly had some major European success and a change of coach after the World Cup and Andy made their attack a little unexpected. They are a formidable physical challenge and a good tactical challenge. “
Jones is cautiously optimistic that Jonathan Joseph would be fit to face Ireland, having been substituted shortly before halftime against Georgia with a back injury. George Ford may also be back in contention after the Achilles problem.
Elliott Daly believes England can deliver a more accurate attacking performance than they have shown so far this fall. “I think we have this in the closet,” he said. “When needed, he’ll be out. In the last few matches it’s all about winning Test matches.
“Playing against Ireland, they are very organized in what they do. They are a very physical and forward-oriented team as well, with some great defenders. They give a good kicking match so we’ll look at that this week.”