Jones full of praise for Simmonds
By Mark Stevens
25/11/17
Eddie Jones reserved special praise for Exeter Chiefs young gun Sam Simmonds as he helped England make it a clean sweep of victories in the Old Mutual Wealth Autumn Series with a 48-14 victory over Samoa at Twickenham.
Having come off the bench in the recent wins over Argentina and Australia, Simmonds was handed his first start by the Australian for this latest encounter - and he did not disappoint, producing an eye-catching display in the No.8 role.
Simmonds played the full 80 minutes at HQ, as did club-mate Henry Slade, who was one of England try-scorers on the day. Fellow Chief, Harry Williams, was used as a second half replacement for Leicester Tigers prop Dan Cole.
Together, all three players helped England take their record for the year to nine wins out of Test matches.
Full-back Mike Brown and centre Alex Lozowski went over early on for England, before Piula Faasalele replied for the visitors. Bath’s Charlie Ewels added England's third try, but attacks frequently stalled because of errors and breakdown infringements.
However Elliot Daly (2), Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni crossed in the second half with Chris Vui scoring a late consolation for Samoa.
Post-match, Jones issued a strong challenge to England's new blood, including Simmonds, to prove themselves worthy of a first-team place.Ahead of kick-off, England’s supremo made nine changes to the side that toppled Australia.
And while the likes of Jamie George, Simmonds, Alex Lozowski and Daly all gave impressive showings, Jones' formidable desire for improvement remained.
"The next eight weeks is a great opportunity for players to show how much desire they've got to be part of a World Cup-winning side," Jones said. "A lot of it goes out the window because some blokes could now not show that they've got the desire to work hard, so we start again. That's the great thing we've got here, we've got great competition.
"We've won nine out of 10 Tests, introduced 12 new caps this year, increased the depth of the squad again, we've got people competing for every position."
And Simmonds will have done his chances of featuring again in the Six Nations no harm with a hugely encouraging display.
“Simmonds did pretty well, he’s a good young rugby player, we just need to get some beef on him now,” added Jones.“We might have to send him down to Miyazaki in Japan to get him to eat some Miyazaki beef. Those Cornish pasties are clearly not working. He has a nice feel to the game, he doesn’t talk a lot and gets on with it. He’s a good prospect for us.”
Now, Jones says his side must continue to improve if they are to seal a third consecutive Six Nations title which would be a first in the history of the tournament.
“I’m excited about the Six Nations as we’ve got the opportunity to create history by winning it three consecutive times,” said Jones.
“We want to get better with every game. The Six Nations is always tough as every side wants to beat us. Playing England is their big game and that’s the great thing for us, we’re put under enormous pressure in every match so we are going to have to prepare well.”