England v Japan: Eddie Jones admits Rugby World Cup focus distracted from Argentina challenge

Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell
Jones has banked on the partnership between Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell (centre) as the long-term answer for England's backline
Date: Saturday, 12 November Kick-off: 15:15 GMT Venue: Twickenham Stadium
Coverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app, updates on BBC Radio 5 Live

England's defeat by Argentina was partly caused by preparation being too focussed on next year's Rugby World Cup, coach Eddie Jones has admitted.

"We have been looking at a number of long-term strategies that we are trying to employ to get set for the World Cup, and maybe our focus wasn't tight enough on Argentina," said Jones.

"That is entirely my fault."

The Pumas' 30-29 win at Twickenham was only the second time they have beaten England away from home.

The teams will meet again in September in their opening match of the Rugby World Cup.

Jones insisted that England need to develop their game and diversify tactics if they want to go one better than their final defeat by South Africa in 2019.

"There are a cluster of teams at the top of world rugby. We want to break that cluster and to do that we have to have a number of different ways to play the game," he added.

"This next 11 months is to get enough equipment in our armoury to play any way.

"England rugby is traditionally about power rugby, winning the set piece, smashing down the gainline, but we have to learn from the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

"In the final we came up against a side that had more power than us and we were unable to beat them at that game.

"We have continually had at the back of our heads [thoughts] about developing a different strategy of play, which involves more subtlety and some more ball movement to disrupt the defence."

This weekend was only the fifth time that Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell have lined up together in a Test backline.

The combination has come in for criticism with former England international Will Greenwood telling the Daily Telegraph that Jones should pick one or the other, rather than both.external-link

But Jones said that Smith and Farrell's partnership was the best long-term look for England's attack.

"We have another 12 games to the World Cup. If they are able to play 16 games together they will have a good understanding and start to read each other a bit more," he said.

"The opportunities we missed were small cohesion problems that [improve by] playing together."

Seibold exit confirmed as Hodgson brought in to oversee defence

Brett Hodgson
Hodgson stepped down from his role with Hull FC in September

Jones said he had mixed feelings over the departure of defence coach Anthony Seibold after a little over a year in his post.

Seibold will return to rugby league and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles head coach role in his native Australia at the end of the autumn.

His compatriot Brett Hodgson, who led Hull FC for two seasons in the Super League, will take on Seibold's England role.

"It is disappointing, but I am also pleased," said Jones. "I love to see my coaches develop their careers. When you have got good assistant coaches other teams want them.

"I was really impressed when Brett came and visited us in 2018 and we spoke a little about coaching.

"He then came over to England and had two tough years coaching Hull FC, which is a tough assignment. He has learned a lot, he understands the game really well, he is a student of coaching.

"For us it is an opportunity to get even better in defence."

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Source: BBC Rugby Union News

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By adamreeves / Administrator, bbp_keymaster on Nov 08, 2022