Eddie Jones sets out England’s attacking stall ahead of three-Test tour of South Africa

England head into the series on the back of a poor Six Nations campaign during which they lost their last three matches to finish fifth

Eddie Jones presides over England training in Bagshot on Thursday (Getty)

England will change their gameplan and put more emphasis on attacking play against South Africa, coach Eddie Jones said ahead of next month’s three-test tour.

England head into the series on the back of a poor Six Nations campaign during which they lost their last three matches to finish fifth. They were also beaten 63-45 by the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday.

“We are investing more time into attack now, which we always were going to do, which was part of the plan,” Jones said. “We’ve got a reasonable base in defence and set-piece... now it’s time to put more effort into attack... that’ll manifest itself into possibly more tries. We are looking to play the game slightly differently, which we saw parts of on Sunday.”

Jones said his focus was also on next year’s World Cup in Japan.

“We want to win in South Africa but we want to win the World Cup and the big thing is that you keep on changing, that you understand what you are good at but you keep on adapting.”

Jones responded to Bath owner Bruce Craig’s criticism of his training methods by saying that a high-intensity regime is required to prepare players for international matches.

Beno Obano will miss up to a year (Getty)

Bath prop Beno Obano suffered ligament and hamstring tendon damage in England’s training camp at Brighton this month, taking the number of players from the Premiership club injured during Jones’s tenure to five. Craig described the situation as “totally unacceptable”.

“I haven’t seen any figures to suggest they are,” Jones added. “No one in our staff has suggested they are but Bruce is obviously an expert on training-ground injuries, so I’ll have to be subservient to his greater knowledge.”

Centre Ben Te’o was also ruled out of the South Africa tour after sustaining a thigh muscle injury this week. Jones said there were still concerns over Billy Vunipola’s fitness despite the number eight playing in Saracens’ Premiership final win over Exeter last weekend.

England face South Africa in Johannesburg (9 June), Bloemfontein (16 June) and Cape Town (23 June).

Reuters