Jones' England no match for Ireland

By Duncan Bech
20/3/21

Eddie Jones insisted his England players are still responding to his methods despite a 32-18 mauling by Ireland that equalled their worst overall Guinness Six Nations performance.

Tries by Keith Earls and Jack Conan, accompanied by 22 points from Johnny Sexton, inflicted a third defeat of the competition and, to compound the fallen champions’ misery, they were bullied into submission at the Aviva Stadium.

England - who included Exeter Chiefs duo Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jonny Hill in their match-day squad - will finish fifth for only the second time since 2000 to intensify scrutiny of Jones, but the head coach is convinced the team remain on the right path.

When asked if he is still getting through to his players, Jones said: “Ah yeah, most definitely, I don’t think that’s the issue. If I thought that was the issue I wouldn’t be coaching the team.

“As disappointed as I am about the result, we still know where we are going and we’ll continue in a positive fashion.

“There were a lot of positive things in the game. It a difficult game for us but we still know where we are going.”

Apart from a stirring 23-20 victory over France, it has been a dismal two months for England who have entered full reverse since the 2019 World Cup when they lost to South Africa in the final.

Ben Youngs and Jonny May grabbed their two tries, both of which were converted by skipper Owen Farrell, while Elliott Daly landed a penalty as well for the visitors.

“We need to assess where we are going. As I’ve said all along, we are going through a transition period in the team,” Jones said. “This is almost a natural time for that to happen with two years before the World Cup. Those things will happen. We’ve had a fairly settled team for the last four years and that’s natural. But post the Lions, maybe there will be changes to personnel.”