England will go into tomorrow’s Autumn Nations Cup opener against Georgia fully aware of the physical challenge they face, with Eddie Jones admitting his side have not forgotten about last year’s training session that has to be cut short abruptly when tensions boiled over.
The Eastern European side pride themselves on their scrummaging, so much so that Jones invited them into the England camp during last year’s Six Nations campaign to keep them match-sharp during one of the fallow weeks.
But the session saw tempers flare from the very first scrum as the Georgian pack refused to step back once the whistle was blown, triggering a brawl between the two sets of forwards as punches were thrown in front of pupils from St Edward’s School in Oxford. After control was regained, the session resumed only for a second eruption from the very next scrum, with players on both sides swinging punches.
The two sides will reconvene at Twickenham in Saturday’s Autumn Nations Cup clash in what will be Georgia’s first Test against England outside of a Rugby World Cup, and Jones believes his side will not have forgotten what went on 21 months ago.
“The game itself we know is going to be a big physical test,” Jones said. “We’ve got memories of what happened in Oxford. When the first scrum went down they kept going.
“So this is going to be no tea party guys, this is going to be a hard, tough, physical game and we’re prepared for that. We’ve picked a side for that.”
Although England wrapped up the Six Nations title last time out against Italy, they were criticised for the manner of the 34-5 victory. A confrontational approach by the home side appeared to put England off their game, with the much-needed bonus point not coming until the 66th minute against a side that had not won in the tournament since 2015.
The same is expected of them this weekend, given the contest features a side that reached the last World Cup final with home advantage against a one that has to make do with spending most of the year facing tier two opposition, having never made it out of their pool in their last five World Cup appearances.
Jones cautioned against that expectation, stressing that they are preparing for another bruising encounter in the knowledge that it is a rare opportunity for Georgia to show they can cut it at the highest level. With Italy’s place standing in the Six Nations in doubt with South Africa considering their options, and a potential revamp of European rugby on the cards, the Autumn Nations Cup will be one of few chances to shine.
“Italy was a tough game for us because all the expectation is that we’re supposed to win easily,” added Jones.
“The narrative about the game is that it’s supposed to be an entertaining game. But we know we’re going to be playing against a team that’s going to be hell bent on making the game difficult, hell bent on making it a physical wrestle. If you have a physical wrestle then it’s hard to move the ball.
“It’s a tough game for us and I’ve really been pleased with the way the players have approached the game.”
His captain, Owen Farrell, was in agreement that Saturday’s contest will be no easy task, and stressed the importance of not getting too preoccupied with the physical confrontation off the ball as they did in Rome.
“I really don’t like sitting here answering questions in that way, in terms of people saying we are expected to win big,” Farrell said. “I am looking forward and am excited about what the challenge is in front of us. I’m looking forward to playing a tough team and trying to get the best possible performance we can out of ourselves. It’s really exciting.
“We’ve not spoken about it (last year’s training brawl). We’re focused on getting better ourselves in training and pushing ourselves to be able to perform. Individually people might still remember it or not, I’m not sure, but we might speak about it as we go along. The most important thing for us is definitely getting the best out of ourselves, performing well and winning the game of rugby.
“We want to work on being that bit more decisive and probably being at the opposition and not letting up. We want to be constant throughout the game.”
