Wallabies will be desperate to claim England's scalp, says Eddie Jones

Sport360 staff 10:23 24/11/2018
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  • Eddie Jones insists the prize of recalling a precious victory over England when relaxing on the beach will inspire Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.

    The Wallabies limp into the final Quilter International reeling from the loss of breakdown master David Pocock to a neck injury and deflated by a run of 10 defeats from their last 14 matches.

    Jones, however, believes they have the capacity to summon a season-rescuing performance driven on by a rivalry dating back to 1909 and the knowledge a torrid season is 80 minutes from completion.

    “They can go on to the beach and be kings of the southern hemisphere. That’s how it is,” said Jones, who coached Australia from 2001 to 2005.

    “This is going to be their best performance of the year, the game they traditionally want to win against the old foe, the Mother Country.

    “It’s at Twickenham, it’s their last game of the year, and Will Genia is winning his 100th cap, so they’ll be up for it. All previous form goes out the window and it will be what happens on Saturday.

    “They’ll be up for it because it’s England. Australia-England is an old consistent rivalry for Australia and they like nothing better than to beat England at Twickenham.

    “Traditional rivalries still exist because I think they still mean something.

    “History dictates a lot of what we do. History dictates that Australia-England is a pretty special rugby match. They’ll see this as a chance to put everything right.”

    Victory over Michael Cheika’s struggling tourists would complete a successful autumn after South Africa and Japan were dispatched and a precious All Blacks scalp was denied only by a controversial refereeing decision.

    Jones has enjoyed complete mastery of the fixture since replacing Stuart Lancaster at the end of 2015, winning all five meetings including a 3-0 series whitewash Down Under in 2016, and knows where Australia can be targeted.

    “Bully is not a good word these days. You know what happens when you bully people. If I say bully I’ll get called up before Human Resources,” Jones said.

    “We’d certainly like to dominate them. The English set-piece is an important psychological area of the game and we get confidence from dominating that area. And we take confidence away from Australia.”

    Jamie George will be a key component of the set-piece assault after ousting Dylan Hartley at hooker for the first time against tier one opposition, the squad’s co-captain forced to settle for a supporting role from the bench.

    Owen Farrell leads the team from fly-half in Hartley’s absence and it is hoped that Manu Tuilagi will make his first England appearance for two years after putting a sickening run of injuries behind him.

    “Manu’s a game-breaker. He can make something happen out of nothing. When you play against him, it’s normally not very nice!” said Farrell of the rampaging Leicester centre.

    “I’m chuffed for him that he’s put himself in a position to play international rugby again. I’m looking forward to seeing him out there.”

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