“We didn’t have much possession so we had to defend a lot, our defence was outstanding”, Jones said following England’s eighth straight victory. “If I took the Lions job I’d have to anywhere from six to 12 months not doing that”.
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With England now ranked second in the world, Jones has been repeatedly linked with training the Lions for their tour of New Zealand next year.
The England team are on the edge of making history as a win this week or next week will win them the series – something that no other England team has achieved.
“We weren’t sharp in various areas, but we will be next week”, Jones told the BBC following the historic victory – a shocking upset considering that England were dismissed in the group stage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup while Australia made it all the way to te final, only to lose to New Zealand.
“They are great players now – they could be legends of the game in 10 years’ time”, added the former Wallaby.
Fresh from the Six Nations champions series-clinching 23-7 win over the Wallabies in Melbourne there have been renewed calls for him to become the first Australian to take charge of the Lions.
While Wales’s Warren Gatland has always been the favourite to coach the Lions next year, having fronted the successful 2013 tour to Australia, Jones’s remarkable success since taking the job at Twickenham theoretically makes him a candidate.
“With eight wins from as many starts, Jones is winning over supporters slowly but surely after becoming England’s first foreign coach”.
“They’ve played well at the ruck, they’ve spoiled a lot of good ball for us. We know we have to get that 20 minutes right, which we didn’t do last week”, said Jones.
“Next weekend is the most important weekend, so I’m not getting too carried away with this win”, Jones said. If the All Blacks were in this situation what would they be thinking?
“We know the job isn’t done”.
“We’ve got a few players with bumps and bruises so will have to look at our selection very carefully”, said Jones, who has ordered his players to keep their feet on the Wallabies’ throats by winning at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
England made nearly four times as many tackles as Australia with Robshaw saying it was a major focus after letting in four tries in the opening Test in Brisbane. “We’ve got to clear our own things up before we start worrying about that”.
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“Last week we were a little bit rusty but this week we were spot on. Our discipline in maintaining a commitment to play the ball rather than the man – a lot of it is due to Dylan Hartley’s captaincy”.
