South African rugby players and fans alike must be sick of the sight of Eddie Jones.
The man who masterminded Japan’s incredible last-minute victory over the Springboks at the 2015 Rugby World Cup has popped up to best them once again.
The Tasmanian took over the England rugby team in November last year off the back of a humiliating home World Cup for the Red Rose in which they failed to get out of the group stage.
But Jones quickly set about rebuilding the side and since he took charge England had a 100 per cent record – which they extended to ten matches on Saturday afternoon at Twickenham when they finally beat South Africa 37-21 – after ten years of trying.
2006 – @EnglandRugby have beaten SA for the 1st time since 2006, ending a run of 12 games without a win against the Springboks. Relief.
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) November 12, 2016
They did it thanks to tries in the first half from Jonny May and Courtney Lawes, followed by two more from George Ford and Owen Farrell after the break.
England captain Dylan Hartley said: “There’s plenty to work on, so that keeps us grounded. We conceded six penalties in the opening 20 minutes and that isn’t good enough. But we’re very happy to get that monkey off our back and I’m very proud of our guys.”
Meanwhile South Africa captain Adriaan Strauss said: “It was a very tough game, they were tactically very good and we couldn’t deal with the high ball. We just couldn’t put any pressure on the England team and we felt it the whole game. We’ll have a hard look at ourselves on Monday and we’ll fight back.”
And after this, Jones is fast becoming the most popular Australian in English sport.
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