Chiefs stars help England to victory

By Mark Stevens
4/11/18

England head coach Eddie Jones praised his side’s resistance and toughness after grinding out a victory in their 'arm wrestle' against South Africa at Twickenham.

Although trailing 8-6 at the break, England were much improved in the second half and held on defiantly to secure a narrow 12-11 victory.

In a full-blooded encounter at Rugby HQ, England - who included five Exeter Chiefs players in their match-day squad - came under intense pressure during the match andJones credited his players' mental and physical strength for the victory in their opening autumn international Test.

Chiefs trio Alec Hepburn, Henry Slade and Jack Nowell all started the game, before Hepburn was replaced by club-mate Ben Moon on his international debut. Harry Williams made it a full set of appearances when he replaced Kyle Sinckler during the second half.

Post-match, a delighted Jones said: "It was a tough old Test match. Look, we had players out on their feet in the last 20 minutes. Ben Te'o has played 30 minutes of rugby this season and he got through 70 minutes. There was a real show of resistance and there was a lot of toughness in our play and I'm really pleased with the boys.

We just stuck at it and stayed in the arm wrestle and did the simple things well. We had to keep on trying to turn them around and keep them on the back foot and we did that."

Jones was forced to pick an inexperienced England team, with a host of players such as Billy Vunipola, Chris Robshaw, Nathan Hughes, Courtney Lawes and Exeter’s Sam Simmonds all ruled out of the match through injury.

"Our young guys did exceptionally well," added Jones. "Alec Hepburn and Ben Moon both played 40 minutes for us. Zach Mercer came off the bench for us at the end. Jack Nowell hasn't played for us for a couple of years so it was a great effort."

It does not get any easier for England, with world champions New Zealand next up at Twickenham. But Jones was in bullish mood after his side's win.

He said: "We're going to prepare well and we can't wait to play them. You want to play against the best in the world and the Kiwis are the best in the world, so let's bring it on."