Eddie: Ireland aren’t Bok-hardened

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In questioning Ireland’s ability to cope with what’s coming when they visit Twickenham to face England on Saturday, Eddie Jones has used the Springboks as the standard for measuring physicality.

Last year, a Marcus Smith penalty in the 79th minute at Twickenham secured England a dramatic 27-26 victory against the world champions.

“They haven’t played against a side as physical as us for a long time” – Eddie Jones on Ireland. 

Now, speaking ahead of England’s crunch Six Nations clash against Ireland on Saturday, Jones is confident that experience will arm his troops with an edge against the Irish.

“Whenever you play Ireland, the breakdown is a significant part of the game,” the England coach said. “They pride themselves on that area, but we are a very physical team and they haven’t played against a side as physical as us for a long time.

“If you look at their record, they haven’t played against South Africa since 2017. We played against South Africa last year and did well in those physical stakes so we intend to really take it to them.”

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Jones added: “There are a couple of things we’d like to do a lot better, which is finish the attacking opportunities we’re creating and control the difficult parts of the game better. At the same time, we want to impose our physicality on Ireland in this game.”

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Devin Hermanus