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'A bad call by the referee, unfair conditions in the game': How England have tailored training to ensure they cope with French adversity

(Photo by PA)

Eddie Jones has revealed the lengths he has gone to this week at training to try and ensure his struggling England team can better cope when they are on the receiving end of adversity in a match. The 2020 Guinness Six Nations champions were humbled last month by sobering defeats to Scotland and Wales.   

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Especially galling was the undisciplined fashion in which they fell away in the closing stages of the loss to Wales, the penalty count punishingly mounting after they had managed to fight back from having two first-half tries incorrectly awarded against them. 

With a total of 41 penalties conceded in last month’s three matches, Jones invited RFU Test referees Matthew Carley and Wayne Barnes into the England camp this week to help them clean up their act when they face the French on Saturday with Andrew Brace, the referee from the loss to Scotland, on the whistle.  

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It has been no-holds-barred, with the instructions going so far as to purposely stress the England players with adverse game-like situations in training to equip them with the tools needed to best react and not lose their focus as happened against Wales.  

“When the good teams go through this like we are [handling adversity], it’s never a lack of effort. It’s handling the disappointment of the game, that’s the most important thing,” explained Jones, who has made three changes to his XV with Max Malins, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Charlie Ewels in for benched trio Elliot Daly, Jamie George and Jonny Hill. “We have tried to create training sessions this week to replicate what might be termed a disappointment in the game to make sure we don’t lose our focus. 

“What happens when you are not at your best and you get those disappointing moments in a game, all other ideas start flooding into your head instead of just getting back to what is really important. So particularly this week we have tried to create sessions that elicited that response and to expose the players so they can practice that little bit more.

“Game scenarios, a bad call by the referee, unfair conditions in the game, all of those sort of things. We have concentrated on a number of areas, put the players under pressure and we have probably had what we think is a really good training week. I can’t tell you if it is a really good training week until after the game but we think we have had a really good training week. 

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“Players enjoy the training. I just look at them this morning [Thursday], they are walking around with a smile on their face looking forward to the challenge. There is going to be moments in the game where we are tested like that and we need to make sure we keep our focus and we feel that we have practised that really well this week.”

Explaining the value in having both Carley and Barnes involved in the England set-up in recent days, Jones added: “Matthew Carley has done a great job. He has refereed three of our more contestable sessions and we also got Wayne Barnes to come in just to talk about how referees now prepare for a game which was very enlightening. 

“They will help the process but at the end of the day it comes down to the individual responsibility of players to make the right decision at the right time and we have encouraged that practice to be good at training and we would like to see that flow into the game. We have got a referee on Saturday whose job is to enforce the laws of the game and we are hopeful he will enforce the laws of the game as the law books states.”

This was a calculated reference by Jones as Brace was also the referee when England eventually edged France in extra-time in last December’s Autumn Nations Cup decider, another game where they felt deflated by some of the decisions that were made.

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“France have a high penalty rate,” continued Jones. “They have a very high penalty rate so we will just have to wait and see. They put a lot of pressure on the tackle, as most good defensive sides do. They have got a good lineout-contesting side and they are two areas where they will put pressure on us.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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