Jones wants right kind of arrogance

Editor

England did their best to distance themselves from being labelled arrogant under Stuart Lancaster. Eddie Jones is less concerned.

The new head coach wants England to channel any arrogance into self-belief as they get ready for Saturday's Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield.

“Arrogance is only bad when you lose," Jones told reporters on Monday.

"If you are winning and you are arrogant then it is self-belief. We’re going to believe we are going to be the best team in the world. If that’s being arrogant then it is being arrogant.

"To me it is belief about what we can be.

“We’ve just jumped in the pool and we’re only at the shallow end at the moment. We’ve still got the deep end to go.

"By Saturday night we’re going to know a lot more about the team and I think it’s going to be pretty good.”

Jones certainly appears ready to wade into the psychological battles that come from working in the Six Nations ahead of a fixture with an extraordinary history. Last week at the Six Nations launch, Jones labelled Scotland as favourites.

“I know he was upset about that so I apologise to Vern," he added.

"If you want me to write a letter, I’ll write a letter of apology. We’re happy to be favourites. We’ve had a good preparation and we’ll go in there confident about playing well.”