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England coach Eddie Jones says he learned of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final ahead of the Nations Cup final against France on Sunday.
Jones’ England will face an inexperienced French team in Sunday’s final at Twickenham. A pre-tournament agreement between France and its clubs on player release specified that no player could make more than three tournament appearances, and that quota has already been exhausted for most of their first-choice players.
This means France have named the second least experienced starting lineup in their history, with just 68 test matches shared among their XVs. By comparison, England have a starting team with a record 813 matches between them.
However, Jones does not allow for any complacency in his squad, instructing his players to ‘attack the week’ rather than simply surpass it as they did in preparation for the 2019 World Cup final in Yokohama.
England were also listed as the favorites against South Africa, especially after giving the All Blacks a tough defeat in the semi-finals. Jones’ team, however, met its toughest defeat in the World Cup final against the Springboks a week later.
‘We do not attack the week [in Japan] as we normally do, “said Jones.” In the week of the World Cup final, we were probably happier just passing the week. We were poorly prepared, while we’ve had a peak week this week, the right balance in terms of physics and recovery, you probably reflect every day on that last week of the World Cup.
“When you lose a grand finale, it will be with you for a long time. You never put him to bed. The result is what it is. It does not disappear and makes you reflect.
‘If you don’t learn from that, you don’t have another chance to play in a final, but here we are 13 months later, blessed to have the opportunity to play another final.
“We lost our last final, so the important thing is to win. There has been a real focus on attacking the game and seeing where we can improve. It has been a great week of learning for us. It was a little change of mind. ‘
Photo: David Rogers / Getty Images
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