England players still struggling for fitness despite record victory over Australia, reveals Eddie Jones

The British and Irish Lions among the England squad are still some way short of being where Jones wants them fitness-wise

Eddie Jones still has concerns about the fitness of his England players (Getty)

Eddie Jones was pleased with both the record victory over Australia and the manner of it, but stressed that he is still working with an England squad that is not fit due to the long-lasting effects of the British and Irish Lions tour.

After recalling Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje for Saturday’s 30-6 victory over the Wallabies, the biggest winning margin that England have ever recorded in their 49 meetings, Jones admitted that he is still having to manage a number of players who featured on the summer tour of New Zealand. The head coach altered his training plans in the build-up to the Australia match, and he explained that he will probably continue to do so for the rest of the season.

“Last week we didn’t train much. Well, we trained a lot but not for rugby, because these Lions players still aren’t fit and that’s the battle I’ve got,” Jones said. “They were better today and they will be better next week if they play. We’ve got to get more work into them.

“It’s been tough for them. They came back from a six-week series where they played 300 per cent more than they normally play in their post-season, then they had 10 or 11 days of pre-season at their clubs, then they were playing eight or nine games on the trot. It’s tough for them but we have to try to get them ready for Test rugby.”

England take on Samoa on Saturday in what will be their final game before defending the Six Nations crown in February, with Jones set to make changes for the final autumn international against the Pacific Islanders.

The likes of Jamie George and Sam Simmonds could be given their first starts, having featured off the replacements’ bench against Argentina and Australia. Part of Jones’ grand plan to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup is to use 2017 to build the squad depth that he has available, something that he did on the two-Test tour of Argentina during the summer and these three autumn internationals. However, he does not plan to sacrifice results for that goal, and he has already set his sights on claiming a third Six Nations titles – something that hasn’t been done outright in the history of the tournament.

“We’ve got the Six Nations after Samoa and we want a ‘three-peat’ there,” he added. “I don’t think any team have ever three-peated the Six Nations so we’ve got these longer-term views about where we want to go, but we’ve got to also manage the shorter-term views.”

Jones was very pleased with the result and performance (Getty)

Another player who could come into the fold is scrum-half Danny Care. While Ben Youngs did not play in the summer, having chosen to withdraw from the Lions squad due to the terminal illness of his sister-in-law and wife of brother Tom, Jones could look to see what Care can do from the start. The Harlequins half-back set-up the second try against Australia with a deft chip over a ruck to allow Jonathan Joseph to slide over and score, did the same for the third try as Jonny May raced onto his kick and scored the fourth himself.

“He saw the space, executed well. He was brilliant today,” noted Jones. “If you look at all of our finishers, they’re excellent players. We’ve got another seven guys who didn’t play today that are all busting to play. Brownie’s [Mike Brown] in the gym now, training – he’s started his preparation for Samoa today. Charlie Ewels did a hard fitness session yesterday. We’ve got guys that are busting to get in the team and so it’s competitive. Guys have to put their best foot forward.

Both Jonathan Joseph (centre) and Dan Cole (left) featured on the Lions tour (Getty)

“We’re always looking at how to improve the team. In certain games it’s better for him [Care] to start. Again, that transitional sort of game suits him and there’s a lot of free ball and he came into his element today.”