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The Eddie Jones message sent to crestfallen Red Roses
By Ian Cameron
England head coach Eddie Jones sent a heartfelt message commiserating with the Red Roses after their narrow loss to the Black Ferns in the Rugby World Cup final in Auckland.
Hosts New Zealand ran out 34-31 winners despite trailing for most of the match against a England side who had to dig deep after Lydia Thompson was sent off after just 18 minutes for a head contact on Portia Woodman.
Simon Middleton's side were hot favourites to win, having not lost a game in 30 coming into the final, but ultimately it wasn't to be for the Six Nations champions.
In the aftermath of the loss, men's head coach Jones sent the following message from the England men's team, who were preparing to face Japan in Twickenham: "On behalf of the England men's team we'd like to send our commiserations and congratulations to Simon, Sarah and all of the Red Roses players and staff.
“We know how tough this moment is and it will be hard to feel the positives in the immediacy but they should be very proud of what they've achieved on the pitch and off it.
“They've played excellent rugby, had an unbelievable unbeaten run and are a really tight group.
“Back here in England we can feel the impact that they have made across the game; how many people are talking about them and enjoying watching them and they will inspire even more girls and boys to play rugby.
“They are excellent ambassadors for our great game and we look forward to seeing them go onwards from here, towards a home Rugby World Cup in England in 2025."
Red Roses captain Sarah Hunter spoke of how the team would not be defined by the loss.
“We’re as one. We win together and lose together. There is no blame culture in this team. We’re all accountable for whether we win or lose," said Hunter, England's most capped player. “We can be proud of the squad we have become. The girls left everything out on the field. Our backs against the wall for 60 minutes of the game. To be in with a shot of winning right at the end…
“This is a very special group and we can be immensely proud of what we have done as a team over these last eight weeks.
“One game doesn’t define you.”
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Latest Comments
France got a typically french 14 point try last week and they'll need to look for chances for another couple to be comfortable in the win against Argentina.
Fiji could actually be the ones for upset of the week. Typically clunky with players always in and out of their team this would be about the time they put another England beating performance in against Ireland.
SA to be as strong again this week carrying away from their opposition. Probably an underpar performance though.
New Zealand will be determined to actually put the triple figure score on the Azzurri this time. In actual fact a tired and physically beaten AB side has been chosen for this one so expect to see some space and free flowing rugby from both teams but still nothing more than a 30 point gap between them.
Aussie will be thwarted by a draw in their Slam attempt, otherwise another 1 point game either way.
Lets hope Japan is selecting more of its stop starters like France's Tavita Tatafu's cousin, Tavita Tatafu, otherwise it could be the biggest scoreline game of the weekend.
Go to commentsBack then, Jen it was respect and tremendous rivalries even in provincials! Scores didn't seem to matter exactly! 🙃
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