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Jones lashes Springboks claim that England 'forward pack is weak'

(Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images )

Eddie Jones has suggested his England pack are spoiling for a fight in this Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series finale versus the Springboks, the coach taking umbrage at what he felt were claims by the South Africans that the English forwards were weak. This weekend’s fixture between the two countries is their first clash since the Springboks beat England in the 2019 World Cup final in Yokohama. 

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South African dominance at the scrum was influential that November day 24 months ago, but Jones has vowed that his England pack will get stuck in on Saturday with a team showing two changes from their win last weekend over the Wallabies, Jamie Blamire and Joe Marchant replacing the injured Jamie George and Owen Farrell. 

“You have got to get stuck in, mate,” he said at his team announcement media briefing when asked about counteracting the physicality of the Springboks. “There is no getting away from the fight but having said that, there are opportunities to hurt them in other ways and we have got to be brave enough to take those opportunities to hurt them in other ways.

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“Physicality is an important part of Test rugby and if you look at the history of South Africa and England rugby they have got a 65 per cent winning record and it is probably based on their physicality. 

“They said after the World Cup final, when they beat us fair and square, that they knew how to play us, they knew where our weaknesses were and they are implying that our forward pack is weak. Well, our forward is not weak and we will have an opportunity on Saturday to show that, so we are looking forward to taking them on in the physicality. We are also looking forward to trying to expose the weaknesses in their game which they do have. 

“It’s just the implication of what they are saying,” added Jones when asked to elaborate on what he felt the Springboks were implying about the England pack. “They knew how to beat us. (Siya) Kolisi after the World Cup final said he knew how to beat us and their game is obviously based on physicality, so the implication is that they go over our forward pack but our English forward pack won’t be weak on Saturday. We will have 82,000 people supporting that forward pack and we are looking forward to that contest upfront.”

Five of the England pack – Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes, Tom Curry and Sam Underhill – that will start this Saturday’s match were starters in the World Cup final, with Bevan Rodd, Blamire and Jonny Hill now in the forwards in place of the absent Vunipola brothers, Mako and Billy, and George. 

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Asked to explain what weaknesses in the Springboks that England will aim to exploit, Jones answered: “Do you really think I am going to tell you? I don’t think that is a reasonable question, mate. But like every team, there is no team that is unbeatable, there is no team that doesn’t have a flaw in whatever they do and sometimes your strength becomes your weakness.

“I can’t answer what they expect, mate. I know what we are going to deliver. We will deliver a strong, spirited, energetic, aggressive display by our forward pack.”

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1461296630767013888

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3 Comments
C
Chris 1098 days ago

Eddie! You old mindgames pirate. Never said anything of that sorts! Maybe us fans laughed aloud at 32-12, but that's us. He's trying to motivate his fresh faced front row to harden up against the bomb squad. Maybe it works, but I doubt it.

D
DP 1100 days ago

Back up the statement Eddie, where exactly did SA call your forwards weak? I know for a fact that this wasn't the case. You see, unlike you and your big mouth, Nienaber isn’t stupid enough to disrespect the opposition. Now what the rest of us know is that your forwards ARE weak and overrated. Your tight 5 are anything but, they think they’re loose forwards. Boks are preparing to play 16 men plus the TMO and I’m hoping even those twats can’t derail this weekend. As it stands Bill Beaumont has already tried to destabilise the Boks prep but I hope to see another humiliation dished out at Toff HQ this weekend by the Boks. I’d settle for another 32-12 fingering.

S
Shaune 1100 days ago

Show me first person statement where Boks said that? That's e gland insecurity mind games talking. SA has said nothing other than seeing the shit against Rassie. Boks look forward to the game.

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JW 1 hour ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

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