The Australian Jason Ryles has been hired to ‘crank up intensity’ at the training camp where Jones must evaluate Courtney Lawes’ and Dylan Hartley’s fitness
The last time England’s rugby players came out to Portugal to prepare for a big game against South Africa was in 2007 during the brief reign as head coach of Brian Ashton. It was an odd period with varying opinions on the best way forward, not least from within the dressing room. England, then as now, had injury concerns and ended up losing 36-0 to the Springboks in Paris.
They did, admittedly, bounce back to face the same opponents in the World Cup final but Eddie Jones, as he made clear in the Algarve sunshine on Monday, wants a different result this time. England’s failure to beat South Africa for a decade has been nagging him and the latest list of knocks to key forwards is not about to distract him from his overriding priority.
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