The Wallabies went down 44-40 to Eddie Jones’ side in a gripping third and final Test in Sydney on Saturday to slump to a 3-0 series defeat on home soil.
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Eddie Jones believes there was always the “strong” possibility England would clean sweep Australia 3-0 but has made it clear there is plenty of work still to be done if his side is serious about achieving the ultimate goal of becoming the best global team in the world.
England won the first test in Brisbane 39-28 before securing their first series triumph in Australia with a 23-7 victory in Melbourne on the back of huge defensive effort.
George Ford of England kicks the ball through to set up a try for Jack Nowell during the International Test match between the Australian Wallabies and England at Suncorp Stadium.
Australia head coach Michael Cheika believes “dull” England may begin to play with more ambition now the series has been decided. Not only are Dylan Hartley’s team assured already of a first series win away to any of the big-three southern-hemisphere super-powers, they also have a chance to complete a first 3-0 clean sweep. Being an Australian I’m always grateful for what they’ve done for me for rugby but certainly it’s nice beating them 3-0.
“But I’ll always get back up and as a team we’ll come back and try and play that style of footy”. “That’s when I came into coach Australia they wanted the team to play like that and that’s how I want to coach”.
“Easy tiger, just relax, if anyone’s gonna have a bit of anxiety it’s me mate not you, just relax, just take it easy, it’s all good”, said Cheika.
England are now unbeaten in nine internationals since Jones became their first foreign coach in the wake of their humiliating early exit to the Wallabies in the pool stages of their own World Cup a year ago.
“I want to do that too and I’m prepared to continue to do that for as long as it takes for us to play that way consistently”.
We’re in a good place but our goal is clearly to be the best, that’s what has been said since we met up.
“That stuff’s not my go”, Cheika said.
He was bemused by Welshman Nigel Owens’ ruling to play on after a kick from England inside centre and man-of-the-match Owen Farrell hit the wire of the overhead Spidercam.
“If we want to be the number one team in the world, which we do, we need greater consistency in that.
Outside praise is risky for a team and they’ve been getting a lot of it”, he said.
“We’ve seen three fantastic games of rugby”.
Jones hopes World Rugby introduce a “fallow year” for summer tours in an effort to protect players from burnout.
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England’s success on the pitch has been mirrored by Jones’ deft handling of the phoney war, to the point that New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen claimed earlier this week he had bullied Wallabies counterpart Michael Cheika through his mind games.
