adminSAPPORO. — England coach Eddie Jones insisted the Rugby World Cup was “not a 100 metre sprint” as he defended his side’s error-strewn 35-3 win over Tonga in their tournament opener in Sapporo yesterday.
Manu Tuilagi scored two first-half tries before two more after the break from Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie secured a bonus-point win that could yet prove important in a tightly contested Pool C.
England didn’t concede a try and also appeared to avoid injuries to key players ahead of a short turnaround to their second group game against the United States on Thursday.
“The only thing we have to worry about — and I’m sorry to disappoint you here — is the USA game, and we’ve just got to be a little bit better again,” Jones told reporters.
“The thing about the World Cup, having been to a few, is the World Cup is not a 100-metre sprint,” he added.
“So you don’t have to come out of the blocks and be absolutely fantastic now, what you have to be is steady, you have to be prudent and you have to have a mindset of improvement and that’s what we’ve got.”
Jones was in charge of his native Australia when they lost the 2003 World Cup final to England and was a consultant to 2007 champions South Africa, before masterminding Japan’s shock win over the Springboks in England four years ago.
It was mission accomplished as far as he was concerned, for all that England made some 13 handling errors.
“We came here to get five points, we got five points. We got no injuries, we know we can play better.
“Sometimes rugby is like that, the ball just doesn’t stick,” he insisted. “We left a number of points out there.
“But I’m so pleased with the attitude of the players. That’s two Tests in a row we haven’t conceded a try. That shows a bit about the attitude of the team.” — AFP.
Online Reporter