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Jones' 'they are there for the taking' warning for the All Blacks

(Photo by Alex Davidson/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has issued a “we’re going to go after them” warning to the All Blacks after declaring himself impressed with Saturday’s seven-try, 52-13 win for England over Japan – even though he felt that his team’s much improved attack still left upwards of 20 more points behind them.

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England had fallen to their fifth defeat in nine 2022 matches last Sunday against Argentina, but they confidently bounced back despite the six-day turnaround and strong periods in the early parts of the first and second halves left them comfortably 38-6 clear with a half-hour remaining.

Next up at Twickenham will be the All Blacks next weekend, a first meeting between the countries since their semi-final clash at the 2019 World Cup, and Jones believes that beating New Zealand again isn’t a mission impossible despite England’s inconsistent form in recent times.

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“We had a quick chat after the game,” he said when asked to look ahead to the third England match of this Autumn Nations Series. “It is an opportunity to play against one of the giants of world rugby. They are in a redevelopment period in their game. They are about to play Scotland tomorrow [Sunday] so we will see them play and then have a chat how we played against them.

“It is a great opportunity. For an England player it is a massive opportunity. You look at the history of the sport, the game has been going for what, 150 years, and England have won 22 per cent of Tests against New Zealand.

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“So there is a narrative about the game that says England can’t beat New Zealand – and 2019 World Cup we showed that if you have got the right attitude, if you have got the right game plan, then that history can be broken. So we have got a great opportunity this coming week to break history here and we are looking forward to the opportunity.

“There will be certain things in that (2019) game that we did well that will be important in the next game and there will be certain things that we did well in that game that won’t be important because their team has changed, they have a different coach so they are playing a slightly different style of rugby than they used to.

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“But certainly the guys that played in that game, guys like Owen (Farrell) and Mako (Vunipola) and Billy (Vunipola) and Jamie George and Maro (Itoje) are going to be important in reinforcing to the players that it is not mission impossible, that if we go after them then they are there for the taking – and we are going to go after them.”

Reflecting on what unfolded against the Japanese, Jones added: “It’s an improvement. As we said at the start of November, each game we want to get a little bit better and we were definitely better than the Argentina game.

“I thought we played with a lot of purpose, we knew exactly how we wanted to play. And as I said in the round up after Argentina, the fault that we didn’t play well was my poor coaching so this week it’s not my poor coaching, it’s the good play from the players. I thought the players were outstanding the way they applied themselves. They had a lot of really good purpose.”

Skipper Farrell agreed, but with the caveat that there is much more to do if the All Blacks are to be turned over. “It definitely felt more like us, it felt like more what we are capable of. We’re not there yet, there is a few things to tidy up but in terms of intent, in terms of getting the best out of ourselves, I thought that was miles better.

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“We have had a short turnaround this week and had a big shift in attitude and we have got seven days together now to see how more better we can get, how much closer we can get to see how tight we we can become as a team, to push our rugby and make sure we turn up with the right attitude again.”

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O
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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