2017 Autumn Internationals begin in November

Autumn Internationals: England Rugby News

As England gets ready for the upcoming Autumn Internationals, England rugby coach Eddie Jones shared some of his views on managing a national team the likes of England saying what is needed is intelligence along with the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. Intelligence is vitally important to Eddie Jones as key in his relentless pursuit to make England the number one team in the world. “If a plant doesn’t get sunshine and water it doesn’t grow,” said Jones. “Players are the same; they need new ideas and variety to grow. If you keep doing the same thing, you won’t improve.”

England are two years into their four-year plan to become the top rugby team in the world on the road to winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In 21 games under Jones, there is just one potential failure. Jones talked about an incident involving Gloucester wing Jonny May as an example. “When you see players make better decisions it’s a great part of coaching,” said Jones. “Take Jonny May for example. We had the turnover ball, he got the ball and put in a lovely left foot grubber that took us 15 meters to the corner, he made the tackle to put the player in touch and we scored a line-out maul. He made a great decision. Maybe 12 months ago he wouldn’t have done that.”

With Eddie Jones at the helm, England have won the RBS 6 Nations twice, and also sealed series victories away on tour in Australia and Argentina. To avoid complacency Jones and his coaching team work off the pitch to keep the squad sharp and thinking for themselves. “Each week we try and do something different,” said Jones. “Whether that be in the schedule structure, training content or the way we present information to the players. We spend a lot of our time as coaches designing ways to stimulate the players and to make our program the best. We’ll set up meetings that look like they’re going to be run by us and not turn up so the players have to run the meeting themselves, work through the video and make decisions for themselves.”

Jones previously coached in Australia, South Africa, and Japan. He said previously that his aim is to make his role as head coach redundant and for the team to run itself. “We’ve done things like purposely get buses not to turn up and take players to where they need to be so they can work it out for themselves because we want them to be self-reliant,” said Jones. “In training, we create situations where we don’t tell the players the purpose of the game as we want them to work it out for themselves and very quickly adapt.” Jones focuses on creating strong leadership in his side, urging them to feel comfortable in challenging and sharing ideas. “Instead of me telling them how we’re going to play against Argentina, we show them visuals of Argentina, break them into groups of four or five and then they’ll have to analyze and present to the rest of the players about what they think are the ways to beat Argentina.”

Ultimately he wants an intelligent team that can adapt to changes in a game’s opposition, officiating, or weather. “The referee changes,” said Jones. “He changes the way he officiates the attacking side at the breakdown and intelligent sides pick that up quickly and change.” Jones also gave an example. “The weather conditions can change, for instance, the second Test in Argentina it became blustery and humid which made the ball sweaty so it was almost like playing in rainfall,” continued Jones. “Therefore we didn’t want to play a long-phase game against them, we wanted to turn them around and if you were watching that and thought we were kicking too much but in fact, we kicked appropriately for the conditions.” Einstein once said ‘The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination’. Jones and his coaching staff use their vast imaginations to help come up with ways for England to acquire knowledge and increase their intelligence collectively as well as individually.

Old Mutual Wealth Series News

Kick off times for England’s three Test matches in the Old Mutual Wealth Series have changed. The Tests played in November at Twickenham Stadium will now kick off at 3pm, 30 minutes later than initially announced. England will play Argentina on Saturday 11 November, Australia on Saturday 18 November, and Samoa on Saturday 25 November. “Last season’s Old Mutual Wealth Series was fantastic for England and we had brilliant support from 82,000 fans every week," said head coach Eddie Jones. “This block of matches are an important step in our preparations for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, and we look forward to playing in the 2017 series against three tough opponents.” Meanwhile, Joe Launchbury has been confirmed as Wasps captain for the upcoming campaign. England second row Launchbury will continue as Wasps' captain for the 2017 - 2018 season having led the side to the Aviva Premiership Final in his first term.

Launchbury passed the milestone of a century of appearances for Wasps last season and helped his club reach the Aviva Premiership Final and a European Champions Cup quarter final. The 44-time capped England international is entering his eighth season at Wasps, having joined from Worthing as a 19-year-old, in 2009, and has made 109 appearances for the club. “It’s a massive honor to have been named captain again for the 2017/18 season and something I am excited about," said lock Launchbury. "Wasps is a club I’ve been at for a long time now and I enjoyed the opportunity to play more of a leadership role last season. We have a good leadership group within the squad and there is a lot of talent. We will all continue to work hard to try to improve in every area and to get the best out of each other. We’re all looking forward to the Aviva Premiership starting and our first game against Sale Sharks at the Ricoh Arena on the opening weekend of September.”

Launchbury was on the England squad that toured Argentina in June. “We’re now two years into this cycle, and we can’t stand still,” said Launchbury. “We’ve talked about how we can improve individually to make the team better, and what this camp has given us is some pretty clear objectives, so we can go back to our clubs and integrate it into our game." Joe Launchbury says England must be adaptable against Argentina Los Pumas when the two sides meet again in three months. Eddie Jones’ side host Argentina at Twickenham Stadium for their Old Mutual Wealth Series opener on Saturday 11 November. To their credit, Launchbury’s side registered a series win over Los Pumas in June. However, Wasps captain warns England must avoid being predictable.  “It’s really exciting to play Argentina again and it makes it a battle of the game plan,” said Launchbury.  “Having played them twice in short succession, it’s important now to come up with something slightly different.” Twenty-six-year-old Launchbury was part of the 37-man England training squad that stayed at the Lensbury Hotel in Teddington last weekend for a three-day pre-season camp to catch up with coaches and teammates and set some goals for the upcoming season. "It's all about developing the depth of the squad," said Launchbury. “We’re now two years into this cycle, and we can’t stand still. We’ve talked about how we can improve individually to make the team better, and what this camp has given us is some pretty clear objectives, so we can go back to our clubs and integrate it into our game, whether that’s through training or games.”

Launchbury missed out on selection for the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in the summer but played an integral part in England’s 2-0 series win over Argentina. The lock started both Tests on tour, and was pleased with how a young side that featured 11 debutants was able to win including Nick Isiekwe, a player Launchbury was impressed by. "It was important for me to play at the level I knew I could," said Saracen Isiekwe. "He's brought a load of energy," said Launchbury of the Isiekwe. "What he lacks in experience he makes up for in being a good athlete, and being around the international environment is only going to help him." This summer, Launchbury took his personal tally of international caps to 44.

“It was important for me to play at the level, get my hands on the ball a bit more and carry. I managed to do that across the two Tests which was pleasing for me," said Launchbury.  “Every time you play, you know you’re being watched, you know your performance is being assessed and Eddie always says he wants us to go back to our clubs and play like an England player. I think that is massively important for us because we can’t just dip in and out of this, we have to stay like this as long as we can, keep improving and keep on pushing each other.”

Some England's British & Irish Lions rugby players reunited with their national team last weekend. "It shows you can go there and perform. They are the number one team in the world for a reason but that doesn’t mean by any stretch that they’re unbeatable, or that you can’t have your moments in games against them, because they do make mistakes," Launchbury added. "So lots of things to take from it, but for us as an England team it's what we have ahead in November that matters, and that doesn’t involve NZ, it involves three quality sides that we have to prepare for."

Autumn International Rugby Match Tickets 2017

The 2017 Autumn International rugby tournament begins in November. Fans of the four home unions: England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales will have the fantastic opportunity to watch their beloved national teams go face to face against the southern hemisphere's best teams. Buy great Autumn International tickets for England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales securely now online from the extensive LiveRugbyTickets.co.uk rugby union ticket marketplace.

England Autumn Internationals Schedule, Tickets

England will play three Autumn International matches at Twickenham Stadium in London during the Old Mutual Wealth Series in November 2017. England's opponents will be Argentina (11 Nov), Australia (18 Nov) and Samoa (25 Nov).
England v Argentina tickets, Saturday 11th November
England v Australia tickets, Saturday 18th November
England v Samoa tickets, Saturday 25th November