Every coach learns to appreciate the good times and for Eddie Jones this was truly a day to savour. To stroll out on to the pitch at Coogee Oval, his old beachside stamping ground, in charge of a series-winning England squad, would have created a warm buzz even without the bonus of the Australian rugby league legend Andrew Johns tutoring England’s backs. Short of Kylie Minogue carrying the tackle bags, it was the Wallabies’ ultimate nightmare.
Small wonder people are saying Michael Cheika, Australia’s coach, has been comprehensively outfoxed by his old team-mate. There will be far stronger words used should England wrap up a 3-0 series victory in Sydney this weekend, a distinct possibility judging by Jones’s purposeful post-training tone. If any of his players are tempted to relax this week with the Cook Cup already secured, their boss will want to know why.
To concentrate minds further, Jones has suggested the first two Tests were akin to the quarter-finals and semi-finals of a World Cup. “For us this third Test is something like a World Cup final. To win a World Cup you have to win three big games in a row. It’s a great dress rehearsal for us.” He has also invoked the memory of the third Lions Test in 2013 when Warren Gatland’s side thumped their reeling opponents in Sydney to claim the series: “The attitude of those two teams was pretty evident … one team was on it and the other wasn’t.”
The ability of Jones, along with his assistants, to put people in the correct frame of mind is self-evident but making them better players is the cleverest of conjuring tricks. Perhaps the biggest key to Jones’s success is knowing precisely what class players look like and he will accept no pale imitations. “Playing with some of the best players in the world at Randwick – David Campese, Mark Ella, Simon Poidevin, Glen Ella when he trained – you got to know what rugby players can be like,” he said, having personally invited a couple of his own former club coaches to watch the session from the sidelines.
Deeply ingrained, too, is a desire to maximise whatever talent is available. It explains the invitation to Johns, one of rugby league’s greatest modern-day exponents, to come and show Owen Farrell and George Ford a few Australian techniques. “It’s just the subtlety of what they do, where they hold the ball, how they pass, those tiny little things. The ability to be able to attack the line flat … Andrew was working on that tonight.”
It is all part of Jones’s objective to hoist England, now second in the world rankings, to the top of the pile. Overhauling New Zealand will not be easy, with no imminent Tests scheduled between the sides, but Jones can feel some momentum building.
“I just think it is good for world rugby that England are strong,” he said. “New Zealand have been up there all the time and it’s about time someone put a real challenge on them. We are going to be the side that do that. We have massive areas we need to improve – the consistency of our lineout, the breakdown and our attack – but we can do that over the next three years.”
Would remaining unbeaten throughout this calendar year be a decent start? “We’ve got a lot of work to do before you contemplate something like that. But the ambition is to be the best in the world and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be.”
If it materialises, he believes his captain, Dylan Hartley, will be among the reasons why. “He’s a relationship-builder. He probably doesn’t build too many relationships when he bites people - but he’s not biting people at the moment. He has a knack of knowing when to speak to referees and when not to speak to them. He’s not at the referee all the time and that was a stark contrast on Saturday night.”
With eight straight wins, a Six Nations grand slam and a first series win in the southern hemisphere already safely tucked away, something is definitely working. Jones is not about to be seduced by warm media praise – “If I lose two in a row you will be calling for my head” – but his players have now reached the point where they want to play every minute of every game.
This may result in slightly fewer changes than anticipated to the starting XV for the final Test. James Haskell is struggling with a foot injury, which could open up a place for Northampton’s combative Teimana Harrison, while Courtney Lawes is a contender at lock in place of a battered George Kruis but the energy with which England have finished both Tests is no accident. Whether Australia and Cheika are quite so keen to go again is another matter.
