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RUGBYU-AUTUMNNATIONS-ENG-GEO-JONES
England coach Jones warns Georgia will be ‘no tea party’
LONDON, Nov 13, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – England coach Eddie Jones insisted on
Thursday his side’s Autumn Nations Cup opener against Georgia will be “no tea
party” even though the Six Nations champions will be firm favourites to win
at Twickenham on Saturday.
Georgia’s only two previous Tests against England ended in 84-6 and 41-10
defeats, at the 2003 and 2011 World Cups respectively.
But the Lelos are renowned for their scrummage power and Jones still has
vivid memories of a brawl with the England pack during an Oxford training
session in February of last year.
“We’re playing against a team that’s going to be hell bent on making the
game difficult. Hell bent on making it a physical wrestle,” he said after
naming his team.
“If you have a physical wrestle then it’s hard to move the ball. The game
itself we know is going to be a big physical test. We’ve got memories of what
happened in Oxford. When the first scrum went down they kept going.
“So this is going to be no tea party, this is going to be a hard, tough,
physical game and we’re prepared for that. We’ve picked a side for that.” –
‘Knockabout Willis’ –
Jones has given a Test debut to “flipping tough” flanker Jack Willis as
last year’s losing World Cup finalists look to increase their squad depth
ahead of the 2023 edition in France.
Willis won both the players’ and the English Premiership’s player of the
year award during a 2019/20 season where the 23-year-old’s turnover skill
helped Wasps reach the Premiership final.
“Jack has got a good nose for the ball,” said Jones. “He gets himself into
good positions. He’s got good natural strength and he’s flipping tough.”
The former Australia coach added: “He reminds me a bit of Matt Cockbain,
who played for the Wallabies during their most successful period in the early
2000s.
“In Australian slang we’d call him (Willis) a knockabout bloke. He just
gets on with it. Nothing fazes him too much.”
Jones added: “You’ve got to have plenty of courage to put your head over
the ball when you consider you’ve got 130 kg blokes ready to clean you out —
and he does that consistently and a lot.
“The big thing for Jack will be learning discernment. He has to understand
that at international level, he’s probably not going to get the leniency that
he’s had at club level in keeping his hands on the ball.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0925 hrs