‘We’ve improved a lot’ says Cheika after ninth defeat of year

In the professional era of the game, no team (other than England 24 years ago) have gone unbeaten from January to December.

“They play a pressure, conservative style and in Australia they scored a lot of tries off errors”.

“I’m seeing the improvements we are making, there are tries that we have scored here on this tour that we wouldn’t have scored a year ago”. “To do that you’ve got to win the World Cup”.

“We’ll take this game just as hard as we would’ve had there been a grand slam on the line”, Hooper said.

“If we win this Test then we create history, so we’re aiming to create history”, Aussie Jones, who has copped quite a bit of criticism from Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and the media back in his homeland. “We can’t be distracted and that’s what happens when your mind is elsewhere”.

England last won 14 Tests in a row between 2002 and 2003, during the build-up to their World Cup triumph in Australia.

A Pennyhill Park debrief yesterday preceded the players returning to their clubs, and while Jones insists he knows the exact make-up of the Six Nations squad he would like to select, a drop in performance levels will not be tolerated.

“Last week [against Argentina] we had a man sent off, this week we were under the cosh for the first 20 minutes without a foothold in the game, no possession and we were about 80 metres from their line for the majority of the first 20 to 30 minutes”.

“When you don’t take those decisions, it’s like I have to keep my job at all costs”.

England vs Australia is scheduled for a 2.30pm GMT (8pm IST, 1.30am AEDT).

“I am really enjoying my rugby”, Youngs told ESPN, “and that’s credit to, that’s thanks to Eddie, I guess”.

England’s victory, its fourth over the Wallabies in 2016 following a 3-0 series win in Australia in June, was far from straightforward. They’ll still be hurting and will most likely do everything they cannot to lose again. Australia mounted a rally after the break, even briefly taking the lead, but Keith Earls’ try won it for the Irish. We have enough depth to change the squad if we need to. Under the previous coach, Stuart Lancaster, the players seemed incapable of reacting to setbacks, of adjusting their game to suit either the opposition or the conditions. But we actually think there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

“Jones is a master of using black comedy to belittle his adversaries and no one has been the victim of his invective more than Cheika, who in turn has looked bemused and besieged”. A disappointing World Cup marked a low-point in the sport, but Jones has revitalised the nation and Yarde admitted he’s rejuvenated him personally, too. It’s been a tough year but the boys have worked massively hard.

Without Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola, two thirds of England’s world player of the year nominees, and missing Anthony Watson, Jack Nowell, Manu Tuialgi and James Haskell, many will argue this was England’s finest hour of 2016.

Leicester coach Richard Cockerill revealed that Jones told Youngs he was “too fat”, and threw a bag of candies at him to make his point as clearly as possible.

“I don’t think the red card will have any impact on him, it is one of those unfortunate incidents – there was no malice in it at all”, added Robinson, speaking at the annual HITZ awards, held in London, which is an opportunity for key national partners Land Rover, Barclays, Wooden Spoon and Comic Relief to reward youngsters for their commitment and achievements on the HITZ programme.