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England head coach Eddie Jones admits selection regret
Wednesday, 13 November 2019 - 13:27 | Views - 540

England head coach Eddie Jones has admitted he regrets not refreshing his starting line-up for the Rugby World Cup final against South Africa.

The English were beaten 32-12 by an impressive Bok side in the clash on November 2 in Yokohama, failing to fire a shot at their opponents.

And Jones, now coaching the Barbarians ahead of this weekend’s game against Fiji at Twickenham, feels he got his selection wrong in Japan.

“It was one of those games – they started well and things came off for them,” he told Sky Sports News when looking back to the tough defeat.

“Things didn’t go well for us and we got on the back foot and failed to recover.

“If there’s one thing I could have done differently it was probably to have changed the selection a little bit.

“I continued to change selection from game to game [during the tournament] and probably in hindsight I should have refreshed the squad a little bit.

“I’m not going to talk about individuals but maybe I should have changed the order of 23. But it works when you win – that’s the great thing and when you win you have all the answers but when you lose you don’t.”

Jones currently still has two years left to run on his contract with rumours circling over his future with England and whether he will extend his deal until Rugby World Cup 2023. He stressed, however, that his focus at the moment is on the Barbarians and this week’s game.

“There’s all sorts of stories at the moment – about going to France, Fiji but it’s not really my decision, coaches have to perform and that’s the only thing I am worried about,” Jones said.

“Saturday we’re going to play a great game of rugby for the Barbarians and then I’ll go in two year contract for England and take it from there.”

 

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