Eddie Jones: England are moving ‘in the right direction’ after series win against the Wallabies

Dylan Coetzee

England head coach Eddie Jones before the International Friendly match at Twickenham Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday June 19, 2022.

Eddie Jones believes his team are heading “in the right direction” after England claimed the series against the Wallabies on Saturday.

The English held off a late charge from Australia to win 21-17 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the decisive third Test, thanks to a Marcus Smith try that kept the visitors in the lead.

Moving forward

Jones feels the team is improving and is pleased that some inexperienced players had a chance to contribute to an impressive series triumph in Australia.

“It is a really positive step, we always felt the team was going in the right direction, sometimes results don’t reflect that,” Jones told Sky Sports.

“At the end we had six players with under 10 caps – this is a young inexperienced squad and to have an experience like this is fantastic. They understand what it is like to win a series away.

“Some of our guys have now won two series in Australia. I am so proud of their efforts.

“It is like training a race horse, we don’t want to be at our best until the World Cup finals, we need to keep building the base, the depth, the competition and our style of play. We are in a good position.”

Leadership

Jones was pleased with how well his England team adapted to the conditions and commended the leaders for pulling the team through.

“The big difference between the first and third Tests were that we were not at our best but we kept fighting, kept in the game and our tackling particularly at the end got us a result,” he said.

“We stuck at it, it was a different game for us, the conditions were not fantastic for rugby and we had to adapt to that. We adapted as well as we could, we did not have the benefit of a training run.

“We were a little bit off, but we kept fighting. A great effort by the leaders – Courtney, Genge, Owen and Jack, and our finishers were outstanding.”

READ MORE: July internationals: England edge Australia in decider to take series 2-1