Eddie Jones and Michael Cheika - similar woes, but a very different outlook

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  • Michael Cheika and Eddie Jones will lock horns again this weekend.

    Three wins and a single-point defeat to the reigning world champions – that’s a pretty decent return for an autumn series, right?

    That’s what Eddie Jones is looking at as his England charges finish off their campaign this weekend against Australia at Twickenham.

    It’s an end to the year few would have forecast a month ago.

    Coming into the autumn internationals England had played nine matches this year (including the Baa Baas), having won just the three of them – bringing the tenure of the Australian into question for the first time since taking over in 2015 – much too his ire.

    Across from him on Saturday, Michael Cheika will oversee an Australian side at their lowest ebb in many a year. He finds himself under even more scrutiny than Jones. Last week’s match in Italy being described as ‘must-win’ for the Wallabies tells you everything you need to know.

    When the two come face to face, the outcome will hugely influence how their respective sides enter the World Cup year of 2019.

    For England, a 3-1 autumn sets them up nicely to attack the Six Nations, while a loss to a weak Australia side would be a significant setback – but that’s unlikely to happen.

    For Cheika’s men it’s almost a salvage mission at this point. A lost series at home to Ireland, three drubbings at the hands of New Zealand, and a win and loss apiece against South Africa and Argentina represented a miserable year for one of the game’s great nations.

    Defeat to Wales, for the first time in a decade, and last week’s win over Italy have done little to improve the mood.

    Many lament Cheika’s style of play, but in truth he is playing with a pretty poor hand in terms of the resources at his disposal. This is no Australian vintage.

    A win at Twickenham would provide a rare high point this campaign, a loss feels like another bullet-wound in the sad demise of a once mighty beast.

    Abrasive, bloody-minded, stubborn, determined, awkward – you could be describing either man, but the thing Jones has over his counterpart is an ability to pull it out when it matters.

    On the back of two defeats in South Africa in the summer, a third Test victory was a ray of hope. This autumn series started without huge expectation but is likely to take Eddie Jones and his charges into 2019 with a tag of ‘could beat anyone on their day’.

    Whether this would lead to a successful World Cup campaign remains to be seen, but England are certainly a different proposition to that of a month ago.

    Fiercely loyal in the past, Jones has really experimented of late and is starting to see the dividends.

    Fresh blood in the squad in the form of Zach Marcer, Joe Cokanasiga, Mark Wilson, and Ben Moon, along with some slightly more seasoned stars in the form of Chris Ashton, and the yet to be unleashed Manu Tuilagi – have added a zest to their play, and given fans a much-needed tonic.

    As squad depth increases, only one man has rendered himself irreplaceable – Owen Farrell.

    It’s not how England under Jones have operated, but they are in a much better place for it.

    How Cheika must yearn for such riches.

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