Jones enjoys last laugh as England beat Australia rugby

Jones had the last laugh at the conclusion of a eventful week with his side cantering to a 37-21 win at Twickenham to inflict a ninth defeat of the year on his native Australia.

Jones has been involved in a ding-dong row with Australia coach Michael Cheika conducted through the media this week as they prepared for Saturday’s clash at Twickenham in the final Test of the year for both teams. “It was a big step forward but we won’t get too carried away”. “What we have to do is keep improving and what this month has shown, with a number of players missing, is that no one in the side is irreplaceable”.

Though lamenting a second year in succession that has ended in a defeat at Twickenham, after their World Cup final loss to the All Blacks, Cheika is still enthused by the Wallabies’ progress.

“We’re hell-bent on achieving that”.

It’s to ensure he has an understanding of how we play, we have an understanding of what he wants and it’s to ensure the game flows in the proper way.”To be the best team in the world, you’ve got to be like Muhammad Ali.you’ve got to have that relentless desire and pursuit of excellence”. “The match is right in our sights and the real focus behind the scenes has been on making sure we’ve got the right tactics, getting the selection right and the other stuff is a bit of a laugh”.

England go into the match full of confidence and so they should when you consider the last three meetings between these old rivals.

But after England made it 13 wins out of 13 under Jones for a flawless 2016, the coach said: “Firstly I’d just like to apologise, I’ve forgotten my red nose, but I’ll get it later and put it on”. “They could win any number of ways”. They are going to be more competitive than they were in Australia. We don’t have that yet.

“They dressed us up as clowns today”.

“They’ve had a tough year, they can win this Test and go home happy. Eddie said ‘you can’t play any worse'”.

When England defeated the Wallabies in the three-match series on Australian soil in June, Billy Vunipola was one of the key men at the back of the scrum and at the breakdown.

“I think he’ll be fine”, he said.

He said Australia and Cheika had been invited into England’s changing room for a drink. “It’s probably because no one reads the paper now so they can’t afford to have a good cartoonist”.

“Firstly I’d just like to apologise, I’ve forgotten my red nose, but I’ll get it later and put it on”, added Jones with a smile.

Praising England’s tactics, Cheika said: “They believe very much in the style of game they play, a pressure, conservative style and they scored a lot of tries off errors when we loaded up on attack”.

“I was really pleased with our composure and ability to react and in the second half we did the basics really well”.

That was the icing on England’s 13th win in 13 tests for its first unbeaten year in 24 years, and only the second by a major team in the professional era. We’re moving along that track. “We want to be at our best that night, we’ve got 1020 days”. I want to have the most dominant scrum. “There is an opportunity for him to step up”.