England to tighten defence against Wallabies

England beat Australia 39-28 in the first Test of the series in Brisbane last weekened. Despite the win, they conceded four tries during the 80 minutes.

England lock George Kruis said their defence as an area that needs improving ahead of the second match against Australia.

Kruis and his teammates produced a record score against the Wallabies last weekend, but the Saracens forward insists the visitors cannot afford to concede as many tries on Saturday if they want to win the Test series.

"We can improve across the board," Kruis told englandrugby.com. "We let in four tries at the weekend and if you look at the Six Nations we didn't let in many, so defensively we can improve.

"Against a side which has the attacking ability and pace in the backline that Australia do there's no switching off."

If England win on Saturday they will become the first side to win a Test series in Australia and head coach Eddie Jones believes the Wallabies will come back stronger.

Kruis continued: "For us it's a huge Test, they're going to throw everything at us and we want to be a team that is winning home and away.

"Yes we're focused, we want to be a physical and ruthless side so we train like that and we play like that."

Australia could be without second row Rob Simmonds and No.8 David Pocock for the second Test but Kruis does not see this as an advantage.

"In my eyes they’ve got a very good set-piece and under Michae Cheika they've turned that all around," he said.

"I'd love to have a dominance over every line-out that we play because as a pack we strive for consistency across the board.

"This really is the next step for us, it's the next game and the next thing in front of us. We will put everything into winning this game and we'll be as desperate as we were last week for this weekend."

Source: englandrugby.com