[ad_1]
England coach Eddie jones he said critics of his style were being “disrespectful” to his players after they needed extra time to beat France 22-19 in the Fall Nations Cup final at Twickenham on Sunday.
The tournament was dominated by forward play, aggressive defense and tactical kicks, leading some experts to fear for the future of rugby union.
Despite dire pre-match forecasts, England and France produced an exciting clash, with French full-back Brice Dulin scoring a good try as the visitors, with just 68 matches in their starting XV, established a 13-6 lead in the middle. -time.
However, there were times when the teams’ kicking duel resembled a prolonged rally in the background at the French Open tennis championship, with fans in a crowd of 2000 booing one of those exchanges after spectators entered Twickenham for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.
Six Nations champions England blew a possible try just before half-time when, having decided not to move the ball, a series of attacks from the group inches from the French line ended with prop Ellis Genge striking.
His tactics were finally rewarded just 30 seconds after the end of normal time when replacement forward Luke Cowan-Dickie was run over to try.
England captain Owen Farrell, who unusually missed four of his nine goal kicks in the match, tied the score at 19-19 with the resulting conversion before launching a match-winning penalty in ‘sudden death’ overtime.
Jones, however, had no qualms and responded angrily when asked by reporters about the form of a victory that saw England avenge their only loss this year, a 24-17 loss to France in Paris in February.
“I can say that I think you are being totally disrespectful to the players because of the way you criticize rugby,” he said.
“It is a difficult time for the sport, it is a difficult time to play rugby and we are all trying to play the best rugby we can,” said the veteran Australian coach, who oversaw England’s defeat to South Africa in the World Cup final. Last year’s world. , additional.
“Consider that the players come from at least a 10-month season without having any preseason to prepare for the international game.
“It is a sport we love and it is a difficult game to play.”
When asked if teams had a responsibility to entertain in addition to winning, Jones snapped: “That’s not the point and I find the question a bit childish. Obviously you have to win. If we don’t win, we don’t train.” . “
Rugby, according to his favorite origin story, began when William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a football game at Rugby School.
However, there was not much ball-in-hand play from England on Sunday, but Jones said the same people criticizing England’s style would also have turned against them if they had lost while playing fluid game.
“If we had run the ball from everywhere and surrendered 30 times and been hit 30-15, you would have said why we didn’t kick the ball more,” Jones insisted.
“These are the best players in the world and are you telling me they are playing that game because they don’t want to play good rugby? Be respectful to the players.
“We are trying to win rugby matches … The easiest way sometimes is to kick the ball, other times it is to run the ball. We always look for the right balance.”
