England coach Eddie Jones faced criticism after his side went down 17-24 to France in the opening round of the Six Nations over the weekend.
France unleashed a dominating first half and got out to a 24-0 lead by the three-quarter mark of the game in Paris.
It was a performance critics said was comparable to their failure in the World Cup final against South Africa in November.
Jones said: "It's like we forgot how to play rugby in the first half. We were slow out of the blocks, we were sorry for ourselves and out of kilter, we let the situation get to us.
"We weren't good enough first half and they were very good. We didn't win the gainline and struggled to get advantage there."
Irish critic and former Wallaby Matt Williams dumped on Jones for his 'arrogance'.
"He said they want to be the best team of all-time. Look at that performance there. Why would you say something stupid like that? Why put the pressure on your players."
Williams said Jones' pre-game comments saying the game was about brutality and physicality had not helped. All they had done was poke the French bear.
"The French came out and they just gave it to them…That's when England fail: they get arrogant and believe they are unbeatable."
Sunday Times writer Stephen Jones said: "In all the key areas of the game until the last quarter, England's promises to be bullies, to savage France in a physical epic, looked ludicrous, pointless. Eddie Jones came across as the braggart with nothing to back it up…This was the best display of French defending I can recall, and by a distance. They forced England to resort to scrummaging and kicking, they shut the attack down completely."
England now travel to Edinburgh to play Scotland at Murrayfield at the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment