Eddie Jones claims England’s 2-1 consecutive win over bitter rivals Australia in 2016 was “tougher” than a whitewash against Wallabies – and insists his side had to “fight like anything” to seal the 21-17 win
England head coach Eddie Jones has claimed the series win over Australia was “tougher” than the win over Australia wallabies in 2016.
England defeated hosts Australia 21-17 in the third test on Saturday to round off a 2-1 series win.
England clinched a heroic series victory over Australia after winning the crucial Test in Sydney
Head coach Eddie Jones has claimed the win against Australia was tougher than 2016
Jones said: “It was tougher than 2016. We had to fight today like always, they would always throw it around so we had to defend well.”
England opened this year’s series with a 30-28 loss to the Wallabies, who were down to 14 players.
But Jones’ side came level in the series as they beat the hosts 25-17 in the second Test in Brisbane.
England started slowly in Saturday’s decider as they fell 10-3 behind. Exactly at half time, Freddie Steward made sure that Jones’ team went into the break with an 11:10 lead.
England beat Australia 44-40 in the last Test and sealed a 3-0 series whitewash in Sydney 2016
Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell also shone as England fended off a late comeback from the hosts.
Jones heaped praise on the leading group and stressed the importance of the result as we look ahead to next year’s World Cup.
“When you fight like that and win a game like this, that’s a real achievement, but all the credit goes to the leading group,” he said.
“The result is always important but for the development of the team, especially now that we are in the final 12 months of this World Cup cycle, getting it right was crucial.”
