World Cup not on Eddie's mind
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Rassie Erasmus, Michael Cheika, Warren Gatland and even Steve Hansen all have plans to use the November Test window as preparation for the World Cup, however, England coach Eddie Jones refuse to follow the stream.
England have been in terrible form, they failed to retain the Six Nations trophy and concluded the tournament in the fifth position.
It did not get any better during the June Test Series as England suffered a 1-2 Series defeat to Springboks in South Africa.
However, Jones believes his side has nothing to prove ahead of the World Cup instead the only match where they need to excel is the Final on November 2, 2019.
Jones also revealed that the side will not start thinking about the World Cup until after next year’s Six Nations tournament.
“We don’t need to peak now, and we don’t need to peak before. We need to peak for the final on November 2, and that’s the secret to a Rugby World Cup campaign,” Jones told englandrugby.com
England will host the All Blacks at Twickenham on November 10 in a much-anticipated Test but he wouldn’t be falling into the trap of taking the All Blacks on at their own game.
“New Zealand are the benchmark of international rugby and everyone attempts to copy them but you can’t copy something. You have to come up with your own way of playing and particularly for the English, it’s important we keep being English.
“That’s not to say we can’t evolve,” he said.
England needed to have clarity in how it was going to play.
Thirty months into the job of coach he said he had always seen it as a four-year project.
“The first year was about establishing a foundation which I think we did reasonably well and we probably had more success than we were entitled to have.
“The second year was about making sure you have the foundation right and we did quite well.
“The third year is always the most difficult year as you have got to make changes, as some of the team you have had for the first two years may be at the end of their careers, so you have to regenerate the team and, as we’ve found, there is some pain involved in that.
“Winning is not a straight line, but I think we’re in a great position,” he said.
Jones said that during his time coaching in Japan, before his England appointment, the biggest influence on him was football coach Pep Guardiola, now coaching Manchester City in England’s Premier League. Guardiola’s approach to beating bigger teams had been helpful in Jones plotting a way for the Japan side to be more competitive, culminating in the triumph over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
Source: @AllBlacks
