London (AFP)
A devalued final?
England "does not care who (France) will line up" in the final of the Autumn Nations Cup, launched its coach Eddie Jones on Tuesday five days before the match against a heavily overhauled France XV.
"We don't care who they are going to field. All we can do is play our best rugby. We will focus on our performance and how to improve it," assured the coach of the XV of the Pink.
“In a competition, the week of the final is the week where you learn the most. You learn about yourself, your teammates and how you function as a team. We had an unsuccessful final (the World Cup 2019, lost 32-12 against South Africa, Editor's note), we have learned and we would like to put into practice what we have learned ", he added.
An agreement between the League and the Federation on the release of players in the fall limits the number of match sheets to three for French internationals.
The Blues will therefore have to do without the usual holders, such as captain Charles Ollivon or scrum-half Antoine Dupont for this final of the Autumn Nations Cup.
"We are looking forward to this game, we are very excited. We worked hard, for nine weeks, to be in this position. We cannot control what the opponent is doing so that does not worry us. he team that France lines up on Sunday, it will be competitive: it will be tough, they won the last two Under-20 World Cups so they have a lot of good and young players. But that doesn't bother us, all that is beyond our control, ”Jones also said.
Fabien Galthié's Blues inflicted their only defeat of 2020 on England, a 24-17 setback to start the 2020 Six Nations Tournament.
But this success of February 2 had been obtained with Dupont, Ollivon as well as Romain Ntamack, Virimi Vakatawa or Gaël Fickou.
Scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud (23 years old, 4 caps) will be the captain of the XV of France for his first tenure with the Blues.
© 2020 AFP