Our target for Twickenham? Avoiding Mexican waves, says Eddie Jones

“I’ve just sent in a request to the RFU for my title to be changed to director of rugby, so then I can run on to the field and yell and scream,” Jones said. “Then you’ll have even more stories to talk about. I can’t wait for it, mate, it’ll be fantastic.”

South Africa have confirmed that Erasmus will be confined to the coach’s box for the game against Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

England, meanwhile, open their autumn campaign against Tonga with their first game in front of a full house at Twickenham since their 33-30 victory over Wales on March 7, 2020. Without crowds they managed to win an Autumn Nations Cup and a Six Nations — but crashed to a fifth-place finish in this year’s championship.

Jones is rebuilding his team, although his plans have been upset by injuries to Marcus Smith and Freddie Steward, both now doubts for this weekend, while Raffi Quirke, Max Malins and Louis Lynagh are definitely out.

There could be two debuts on Saturday, with Alex Mitchell, the Northampton Saints scrum half, and Mark Atkinson, the Gloucester centre, retained in camp when the squad was narrowed down last night.

Having been at Murrayfield at the weekend for Scotland’s ten-try demolition of Tonga, Jones has one mission for his new-look team. “It is the biggest rugby crowd in the world. Our target is to make sure they don’t do Mexican waves,” he said.

“We want to play such a good quality of rugby that the fans are engaged and don’t have time to do that.

“At the 50-minute mark at Murrayfield the Mexican waves were starting to come out. We want to play with that intensity and physicality which keeps the crowd interested. It is a large task and that’s what we want to do — and [to] make sure they are glad to be back at Twickenham.

“The full house will make an enormous difference. I think fans give you courage at times, they give you stamina at times. They give you excitement. Sometimes a team needs that little bit [extra] and I think as we became an older team the influence of the crowd became greater.

Jones is hoping to excite the Twickenham crowd with a fresh brand of attacking rugby

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“We probably missed them more than anyone. For the younger guys, we have got a different challenge now. The young guys are going to have to get used to the expectation that the fans bring, of wanting England to play well.

“It is a nice problem to have rather than the other problem [of no crowds], which is more difficult to cope with.”

Those players who will play on Saturday and are yet to experience an England Test in front of 82,000 at Twickenham also include Adam Radwan, Jamie Blamire and Alex Dombrandt, plus Smith and Steward if they are passed fit.

When asked whether blasting out crowd noise at training had formed part of this week’s preparation, as it has done before past games in Cardiff, Jones made another gag, this one aimed at The Times, saying that he does enough yelling and screaming for everyone.

Jones had clearly determined to brighten the atmosphere and move the conversation on after so much debate about his coaching. Amid the joviality and the mickey-taking, he did have a serious point to make about the erosion of values in rugby.

One of the criticisms Erasmus made in his video was that Berry had not shown enough respect to Siya Kolisi, the South Africa captain, an allegation that Kolisi reinforced in the build-up to the second Test. Jones understood where Erasmus was coming from.

“I think it’s an important part of the game to be respectful,” Jones said. “I think the game has lost a bit of respect, the way players have treated the referees, the way referees have treated the players. It’s something all the coaches and World Rugby have spoken about and it’s something we really want to drive forward.

“A referee makes a decision and we have got to be respectful of his decision and he’s got to be respectful of the players, if they ask him the right way — which sometimes didn’t happen over the last 18 months. So I think we need to get that back in the game.”

The RFU has brought charges against three club staff during the Gallagher Premiership season for their conduct while acting as water boys during matches. Jones said that he had no issue with the idea of on-field coaching, providing it is done in the right way.

“I only think it’s a problem if the coaches aren’t respectful,” he said. “We’ve always had coaches running on, so that’s no different — but they’ve got to be respectful to the game.

“The game is about being respectful to the opposition and to the referee. If they are like that I don’t see it being a problem, but if they’re not then it is a major problem for our game.”

Matthew Carley, the RFU referee, took charge of England’s training session yesterday and laid down the law. “He sin-binned one of our players because he conducted a foul at training,” Jones said. “We are very serious about wanting to play the game in the right spirit and with the right respect, so we endorse everything that World Rugby are doing.”

Jones: I bring the noise
Eddie Jones joked that his young players will be well prepared for a Test in front of 82,000 — because they have to put up with him yelling and screaming in training. It was a light-hearted response to criticism of the coach’s approach that was published in The Times last week.

England play Tonga on Saturday in front of their first full house in 20 months. Asked whether he blasts crowd noise during training to prepare his players, he replied, “I have read your paper. It is just me yelling and screaming, that is the noise. We have got plenty of that, just non-stop yelling and screaming.

“You have read the article, I have read the article, so you know what goes on. I can send you a video.”

England v Tonga
Saturday, 3.15pm
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