• Ben Te’o back after impressing in no-holds-barred training session
• Jones wants England to raise their intensity for Rome openerBack when Eddie Jones rose early to watch Six Nations games in his native Australia one thing always caught his eye. The matches tended to be played at a slower pace than in the southern hemisphere but their physicality and set-piece intensity struck him every time. Now he is coaching England those first impressions remain unaltered and woe betide any of his players who are insufficiently “brutal” and “ruthless” from the first whistle in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
It is the bluntest of manifestos,with the choice of the forceful Ben Te’o at external-centre against the Azzurri ahead of Jonathan Joseph further reinforcing the point. As far as Jones is concerned the chief prerequisite of Test choice is a collective willingness to run straighter and harder than the other mob. Defend with a similarly full-on mindset and, as proven over the past two years, or winning games of rugby – and championship titles – suddenly becomes a whole lot easier.
Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk