After their 30-28 defeat by Australia in the first Test on Saturday, England know they cannot afford another mistake in the second match today.
Eddie Jones handed debuts to Guy Porter and Tommy Freeman, with Jack van Poortvliet also coming on at scrum-half. It’s never a dull moment when it comes to Jones’ England selections…
The debate will rage and yet this is a side capable of leveling the series. Porter, resourceful and tough, was one of the most important players in Leicester Tigers’ triumphant Premier League campaign. Van Poortvliet played a significant role building on a breakthrough 2020-21 campaign. Freeman is an extremely exciting talent.
Regardless of the personnel you feel, this game is a defining moment for Jones. As Austin Healy wrote in his latest column in the Telegraph this week, at times “Jones looked impossible to remove – much like Boris Johnson back in the day… If England are playing well and winning and his young lads are performing, then he stays. But if he loses, I think Eddie’s probably gone.”
England are playing to avoid a fifth straight loss and are also coming to terms with having their eight-Test winning streak snapped against the Wallabies.
“I was surprised and I thought they were better than we thought they would be. That was probably a bit naive on our part. Good for them,” England reporter Ellis Genge said yesterday.
“What are we going to do to change this? Find out on Saturday. Let’s go harder. We have to be better everywhere. We have to be better because we lost. We won’t be caught cold.
“We just have to be better overall — I know that’s a vague way of putting it — but we have to be better in all aspects. We were five percent off everywhere, which cumulatively makes a big difference. I don’t think we are miles away from it. They were good, really good, and at the highest level they punish you for getting away.”
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