His captaincy appointment – the serial villain Dylan Hartley – certainly lived upto the advanced publicity. That sent the alarm bells ringing and the set-piece gradually got worse in the tournament to the point when the scrum was taken to pieces by Australia of all teams.
Advertisement
“Some players have a skill-set but are unable to explain how they do it, but George is very technically-minded, has a good number of drills and is good at explaining stuff”.
He said: “It’s like a slow-cooker”.
The sense of a courageous new dawn is about to be delivered by the Dark Blues and if it’s to be the start of a successful chapter then Scotland will need to win their first Six Nations opener since 2006. “That’s where we are at the moment”.
“You’re knocking lumps out of each other with your clubs and you need to work out a style that’s best for England”.
Scotland vs. England is the oldest fixture in worldwide rugby and there is little love lost between the two neighbors.
Jones’ predecessor as head coach, Stuart Lancaster, was determined to disprove the reputation that has traditionally cloaked the Red Rose as part of his drive to restore the image of the national side.
“For him [Eddie], maybe we have been too nice”, admitted Vunipola. “In the past, we have been a bit lax and now we have to find our motivation and reason to bring the devil”. We will go in confident but not arrogant, the English guys are going to be strong, they have a great talent pool of players and they will come right at us scrum time.
With Wales, Ireland and France all expected to test England’s new coach as he finally gets to see what his squad is made of, it really is impossible to call who will be crowned champions come March 19.
“I was also voted man of the match as well but they don’t mean a lot as it is a different opinion from what the coaches might see”. Even five-star luxury 24/7 grates eventually when you are cocooned in your training hotel and Jones has hinted that the squad have already had a couple of nights out. I give him feedback on his games which he wants. In short, when it comes to sixes and sevens, Jones’ first selection appears to be at sixes and sevens.
“On the field he’s got to be Tarzan”, Jones told the BBC on Monday. “I’ve got the RFU’s cash here!” “He’s a real bloke”. In the England set-up, it is rookie Northampton prop, Paul Hill, on the bench at Murrayfield, as well as his own teammate, Kieran Brookes, who is back in the England reckoning after recovering from injury, who are pushing for inclusion. We’re going to believe we can win Test matches and we’re going to believe that we are going to be the best team in the world. If that’s being arrogant then it is being arrogant.
‘To me, it is belief about what we can be.
Captain Greig Laidlaw says he will take the pain of that quarter-final injustice “to the grave – as it’s something that as players we know could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
Advertisement
On the other hand, Jones has shown trust in his players by giving them permission to drink during planned “relaxing nights” – another departure from the Lancaster regime.
