George says Jones' 'infectious' philosophy is rubbing off on England

England captain Jamie George has said that new defence coach Felix Jones has instilled a mentality of loving to defend after his side ground out another win in the Guinness Six Nations.

England edged past Wales 16-14 on Saturday at Twickenham, with their defence coming to the fore at crucial moments. Though it was not a blemishless performance – with Wales breaching England’s defensive line on a number of occasions – the hosts’ defence was resolute in the final ten minutes through phase after phase of Welsh attack.

Under the aegis of the former South Africa assistant coach Jones, England’s defence has been far more aggressive so far this Six Nations, and that comes from the Irishman’s philosophy that the team should love defending.

Referee Angus Gardner on his unique shadow preparation – Whistleblowers | RPTV

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Referee Angus Gardner on his unique shadow preparation – Whistleblowers | RPTV

In this snippet from the exclusive Whistleblowers documentary on the lives of referees, Angus Gardner goes through his routine, explaining how he likes to get his mind right for matches. Watch the full documentary on RugbyPass TV

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After the match, George said that his side have grown to adopt that mentality, and enjoyed Wales hammering into them for several phases as they came away with the victory. It was a victory defined by their defence, as they produced 50 more tackles than the visitors.

“Felix Jones has come in and spoken about us loving defence,” the hooker said.

“It’s a gameplan that’s based around defence. I think he would love us to defend a hundred phases at a time. We’re trying not to do that as much as we can.

“But we love it. We love the system that’s come in. I think Kev Sinfield did a brilliant job in terms of laying the foundations, Felix has come in with a crazy amount of energy and that’s infectious.

“The boys have really bought into what he’s doing. We are getting a greater understanding of exactly what he wants and I think we’re seeing that in terms of how we can defend multi-phase and love when teams try and go as many phases as Wales did against us.

“It’s credit to the boys in terms of their love for taking things on board and seeing where we can take things.

“We really enjoyed that defensive effort today.”