Jones says England has no big issues
ENGLAND REACTION: Eddie Jones says England has no real, big, structural issues within their game after the heartbreaking 29-30 loss to Argentina.
The England coach says the problems are fixable and that the small mistakes his side made are fixable.
The Pumas halted a 10-match losing run in the fixture dating back to 2009 and claimed only their second ever victory at Twickenham after Emiliano Boffelli slotted the winning penalty in the 70th minute.
The rivals meet again in their opening game of next year’s World Cup and Jones denied this result is evidence of a deeper malaise within England, who face tougher tests against New Zealand and South Africa.
“The World Cup is 11 months away and a lot happens in 11 months. As a lot can happen in a week,” the Australian coach said.
“I’m not sitting here thinking we’ve got really strong problems within the team. For the most part I thought we dominated the game.
“If we didn’t, then I might be thinking people have good rights to get stuck into us and then we’d have a bit of a fight.
“But we made some silly mistakes and we can change those things pretty easily. They’re all controllable. There are no real, big, structural issues within our game.
“It’s a great opportunity for us now because we’re under the pump a bit which is good and I think we’ll respond really well to that. I’m looking forward to it.”
Argentina struck with two tries in quick succession by Boffelli and Santiago Carreras to seize a 24-16 lead with 30 minutes to go and they had the composure to close out the win before a subdued Twickenham crowd.
The TMO checked for a knock-on in the build up to Carreras’ breakaway try and while refusing to condemn referee Andrew Brace, Jones suggested that it should not have stood.
“The referee made the decision. When you throw a pass and it goes that far behind, the best players in the world don’t generally do that so there was probably something else that happened,” Jones said in reference to Owen Farrell’s pass that was intended for Billy Vunipola but instead landed on the floor.
Argentina coach Michael Cheika was delighted with a first win over old sparring partner Jones after losing seven matches to him as Wallabies boss.
“It was good and it was tense. I really liked the way the guys prepared this week. They had a really good attitude about them,” Cheika said.
“It was tricky too because no one in that side had won against England before so you’ve got to combine the mental side of it with the tactical and the technical side of it.
“It’s a great feeling and really nice for the lads to get that opportunity to have that experience here.”
