England went soft after 2003 Cup: Jones

PeterD. England are also blitzing the word in royalty photo ops and baby snaps. Daylight second. Then there is rugby. It's going to be very interesting to see what the old Randwick hooker cooks up against his old team, and his old team mate.

Don't beat yourself up Pete. Personally, I'm just jiving, England are most definitely riding high in many sports. Kudos.

Tony Bellew won the WBC cruiserweight title with a devastating third round knockout of the champion unbelievable weekend for Great Britain in sport! Personally I'll take being called a bunny any day of the week alongside the 2003 World Cup!

Yet they have still managed to have England as their bunnies for those 50 years. Quite a poor record they have against the Wallabies, especially as England have had the advantage of playing most of these games on their home ground. They have a mere 52% win rate against the Wallabies at home and a dismal 21% win rate in Australia against the Wallabies.

To be fair, what he did with Japan was pretty impressive... you can't argue they did what they did due to the quality of their players.

The Wobbily pack has been soft for about fifty years.

Great Weekend for British Sport Nicolas Adams won the world title in amateur boxing Lewis Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix Ricky Burns won the WBA super lightweight title England are stuffing Sri Lanka in cricket Tony Bellew fights for the WBC cruiserweight title this evening. Great Britain could have 14 world boxing champions by tomorrow. Not bad for a nation of softies hey Ebop! England beat Wales in the rugby. Finally to top it all off England beat Australia in the football! Sorry to go on chaps I just couldn't help myself!

Sorry to go off subject chaps I just want to point out what a great weekend it''s been for British sport. Lewis Hamilton wins the Monaco grand prix. Nicola Adams has just won the world title in women's amateur boxing to go alongside her Olympic gold. Ricky Burns won the WBA world super lightweight title in boxing. Tony Bellew fights for the WBC cruiserweight title this evening. Great Britain could have 14 world professional boxing champions by tomorrow! Not bad Ebop for such a nation of softies mate! England stuffed Wales in the rugby! England are stuffing Sri Lanka in cricket and to top it all off England beat Australia in football! I just love being a British sports fan these days!

Eddie Jones talks about that heavy loss to Australia in 2004 as England players on holiday, which shows he still doesn't understand how ridiculous the season is for northern hemisphere players after a World Cup. Any England World Cup player going on tour with to Australia in 2016 has not had a proper break from the game since August 2014. That's nearly two years, which is criminal from a player welfare perspective. This is how it breaks down: August 2014 - Club pre-season September 2014 - May 30th 2015 = Domestic club and international season 22nd June - 50 man group starts training for World Cup July - 45 man group goes on intensive training camp in Denver. 15th August - first World Cup warm-up Test (against France) Then we head to the World Cup. While Southern Hemisphere players immediately went on a break once that tournament had finished, Northern Hemisphere players went back to their clubs and have been turning out for club and country ever since. Eddie Jones says one of the first thing his assistants told him about the English squad is that players needed rest. He replied that New Zealand players tour at the end of their season, so there's no argument. That's a bizarre stance. There's no comparison between the workload of an All Black at the end of his normal season and a Northern hemisphere player after a World Cup. I've no doubt you can argue the toss about the standard of rugby but the physical toll is what matters. The England team Jones' Wallabies faced in 2004 actually had an ever harder time. They didn't just spend summer before the 2003 World Cup in a training camp, they toured New Zealand and Australia. For Jones to belittle that group as a team on holiday a year later shows that he doesn't understand those players were exhausted. That's not good for England's long term future. Hartley (two concussions), Robshaw, the Vunipola brothers, Dan Cole and Mike Brown at the very least, should not be on tour this summer.

The other thing I noticed was that both halfbacks let the ball sit at the back of the rucks for ages. There wad no urgency to play.

Actually when you look back to the world cup that was exactly happened. A few second man plays and a few wide passes and the Wallabies carved them up.

Pfffft. Clearly the only thing you watched was the stereotypes in your brain because what you describe isnt real.

I agree. The defense structures were really poor that allowed tries to be scored and not the quality of the attacking!!

Really mate? I've always found them to be squidgy and boring as heck. Not enough starch?

ebop a lula mate it all depends on how you cook them!

.....as Yorkshire puddings

No actually I think he talks a load of nonsense. I do not know why the rugby public listen. He is like an internet troll. I give England a chance due to the quality of their players, mainly in defence. It is not due to the quality of the coach.

I watched the Aviva final the other night on the new beIN channel. It was the first time in a long time I have watched uk rugby and I was surprized at how poor the attacking play was. The game was basically a bunch of gym bunnies playing crash ball the entire 80. If the Wallabies can man-up to the physical aspect then their more sophisticated attack play will see them though.

England are hard to judge. I really rate guys such as Watson, B.Vunipola, M.Itoje, Nowell and Joseph. Unlike many I think Farrell is a good flyhalf with great potential, hes still young. Then add guys like the rock solid Mike Brown and the greatly underrated Hartley and, I think, they are a side with potential to challenge any team, including NZ. Dont get me wrong, I think NZ is still clearly the best team in the world on paper but I think Eng compares well to all others, on paper at least. Lots of people say that the English backline is weak but I dont agree. Its similar, imo, to those who question the Saders backline. The Saders backline is, again imo, one of the strongest in the world of any club. Englands backline is also one of the strongest backlines in world rugby. Imo Eddy seems to be saying and doing all the right things. You play well enough, you make the team. You get lazy or play poorly and you are out. You should expect to be able to beat Aus in Aus. Not "close enough is good enough". None of this nonsense like selecting Burgess despite him showing very clearly that he wasnt a good 12 that was not even capable of playing well enough to cement a club spot ON THE BENCH for Bath. I think Eng will do well against Aus but I also thought theyd do better at the WC so...

Yeah, it is true England are soft