England’s bullish head coach has dipped into his pick ‘n’ mix in a bid to handle the world champions’ heavy-duty forward pack
Much has changed since Eddie Jones last named a team to face South Africa. Back in 2019 he was in a packed hotel ballroom in Tokyo awaiting a Rugby World Cup final that, ultimately, did not remotely pan out the way he planned. Two Covid-disrupted years on he is stuck on Zoom and admits he still awakes in the morning reflecting on the Springboks’ convincing 32-12 triumph in Japan.
Which is perhaps why, before Saturday’s Twickenham Test, Jones chose to lay down as bullish a pre-match challenge to an opposing side as he has for some time. “Post the World Cup South Africa said they knew they were going to win and knew they had the wood on us,” said England’s head coach. “The implication is that our forward pack is weak, but our forward pack isn’t weak and we’ll show that on Saturday.”
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