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Jones' expectation from the 'don't like getting beaten' Springboks
By Liam Heagney
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.
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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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