Jones' expectation from the 'don't like getting beaten' Springboks
Eddie Jones has outlined precisely what he expects his England team to be confronted by next Saturday in London when the curtain falls on their four-game Autumn Nations Series with the final match versus the Springboks.
South Africa will arrive at Twickenham having endured a tough November period, narrow defeats to Ireland and France getting followed this weekend by a laboured first half in Italy before they pulled away in the second period with a seven-try flourish.
They have also had their off-field issues with director of rugby Rassie Erasmus getting his second stadium ban in twelve months from World Rugby.
It all adds up to what Jones expects will be a bruising encounter against a team they defeated with a late Marcus Smith kick last November to clinch a 27-26 win and round off that series with a 100 per cent record following other victories over Tonga and Australia.
The England results this time around are not in that same category as they have so far lost to Argentina, beaten Japan, and drawn with the All Blacks and it was in the wake of that share of the spoils with the New Zealanders that Jones addressed next weekend’s series finale versus the Springboks.
“It is going to be a different game again. South Africa played a little bit differently against Italy, played a little bit differently against France, but I think they will go back to Springboks rugby against us. We know they have targeted this as the important game of their tour. They don’t like getting beaten, so we will expect a big physical contest.
“Set piece, we were disappointed we didn’t get an advantage, we were probably shaded by the All Blacks in that area so we will need to do some good work on our set-piece and just tidy things up for next Saturday.”
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Even with absences we still had the cattle to make the playoffs. As it was, we nearly stumbled our way into the top 8. Which shows just how easy it was to get there. And still we failed. As for Razor, there are many instances of him patching up the Crusaders roster. Numerous. Several players Id never heard of. Also, using AB legend John Afoa was a classic.
But, some of the games we were losing were from schoolboy errors, or downright confusion. Either the players were really dumb (they weren’t) or they were poorly coached. Given the repetitive nature of errors, brain fades, poor decision making, & loose structures, this all lands with the coaching group.
With only six playoff spots now in SR, & Aussie franchises now consolidated to four, 2025 looks like a tight one. We'll have to tough it out under Penney & hope for the best.
Go to commentsAgree we need a 10, 12, 13 refresh. ASAP. Well, next season now lol. Reiko should be put back on the wing. He'll be an absolute menace there. Imagine 11 Reiko 14 Clarke 15 Jordan as the backfield unit.
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