Eddie Jones believes England’s preparation for a huge clash with Ireland have been hampered by poor opposition in their last two matches.
England beat the Italians in Rome two weeks ago to win the elongated Six Nations Championship, before beating the Georgians at Twickenham to kick off the new Autumn Nations Cup.
“It’s a massive step up,” Jones said about facing Ireland next weekend.
“The last two games haven’t helped our preparations – our difficulty is we’ve played two tier-two countries and we’re going to play against a team who have had a great preparation against Wales and France. So we’re going to have to prepare really well this week.
“You’ve just got to look at the world rankings,” Jones added. “Georgia are ranked 12, Italy are 16th I think, and Ireland are in the top four or five, and consistently have been.”
Autumn Nations Cup Fixtures 2020: Round Two
- Saturday 21 Nov, Italy v Fiji, 12.45pm, TBC Live on Amazon Prime (UK) & Premier Sports (Republic of Ireland)
- Saturday 21 Nov, England v Ireland, 3pm, Twickenham Live on Amazon Prime, Channel 4 & RTE
- Saturday 21 Nov, Wales v Georgia, 5.15pm, Parc y Scarlets Live on Amazon Prime (UK), Premier Sports (Republic of Ireland) & S4C
- Sunday 22 Nov, Scotland v France, 3.15pm, BT Murrayfield Live on Amazon Prime (UK) & Premier Sports (Republic of Ireland)
Autumn Nations Cup Team of the week | Round 1
BACK-THREE
- 15. Elliot Daly (England) – Had plenty of ball and slipped the leash just before half-time to mark his return with a try.
- 14. James Lowe (Ireland) – An ideal debut for the pacy debutant and added a try at the end to boot.
- 11. Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland) – Always looking for work, he ran a glorious line for his try.
CENTRE
- 13. Chris Harris (Scotland) – Maybe his best game to date in a Scotland shirt – both in attack and defence.
- 12. Robbie Henshaw (Ireland) – Solid under the high-ball early doors and won a turnover penalty later on.