Jones ramps up verbal attacks on Scotland with comments about their tactics

Eddie Jones has continued his war of words with Scotland claiming Gregor Townsend’s side are one of the “biggest kicking teams” in the world heading into Saturday’s Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield.

Having wound up the French before losing in Paris on Sunday, Jones has continued with this tactic by suggesting Scotland prefer to kick rather than pass the ball while also highlighting the way the Scottish players got under his team’s skin two years ago and insists that this time the home side will be “kept in the box”.

Jones, who has made five changes to his side, received flak for the language he used before the French game but has refused to back down leading into the Scotland match knowing he needs a significant reaction from his players against a Scotland team that got a losing bonus point with a much-improved showing against Ireland in Dublin.

Jones said: “We were very disappointed with our performance against France and have sought to address the issues and have had a very sharp preparation for Scotland. We have picked a particularly strong forward pack and know the game against Scotland will be a lot of kicking and they are one of the biggest kicking teams in the World and we have looked at making sure we are strong in that area.

“We have refreshed the front row with a six-day turnaround and Mako Vunipola was rested and comes in nice and fresh with plenty of energy and at tighthead we will get 80mins out of Kyle Sinckler and Will Stuart. George Kruis’s experience in the lineout will be invaluable against Scotland and Lewis Ludlam was brought in for Courtney Lawes because we felt his lower centre of gravity will be useful against the hard poaching of the Scotland pack.

“Jonathan Joseph comes in because Manu Tuilagi is unavailable and has been in good form for his club and training for us. We want to make sure we dominate the gain line against Scotland and don’t allow them to get outside us in attack and we keep them in the box.”