Jones urges 3-0 series sweep after Wallabies ‘rope a dope’

England head coach Eddie Jones (R) celebrates with players after defeating Australia. REUTERS

AFP: Coach Eddie Jones says he is not satisfied with England leapfrogging Australia to the world’s second ranking and wants his team to go for the kill and sweep the series 3-0.

For the second straight Test the Six Nations champions mastered the Wallabies, this time 23-7 in Melbourne on Saturday after winning 39-28 in Brisbane a week earlier, to clinch their first-ever series victory in Australia.

Jones, the former Wallabies coach, urged his team to be ruthless and complete a 3-0 wipe-out of the Australians in Sydney next Saturday in their quest to become the top team in world rugby following their eighth straight win.

The feisty Australian declared England had played ‘rope-a-dope’ against the Wallabies with a stonewall defensive effort to deny Michael Cheika’s team the chance to level the three-Test series.

There would be no let-up in intensity from England, Jones warned the Wallabies.

“We want to be the best team in the world and we want to win the series 3-0,” Jones told reporters after Saturday’s triumph.

“If the All Blacks were in this situation now, what would they be thinking? They’d be thinking 3-0.

“If we want to be the best team in the world, we’ll be thinking 3-0. We know Australia will come back, they’re a well-coached, driven team. So we’re anticipating quite a feisty encounter in Sydney.”

It was a heroic defensive performance by England, making 215 tackles as the Wallabies monopolised possession and territory and launched wave after wave of attacks as England clung onto a slender 13-7 lead for much of the second half.

“We had to play ‘rope-a-dope’ tonight that was the sort of game we had to play,” Jones said.

‘Rope-a-dope’ was the phrase used by the late great boxer Muhammad Ali to describe how he absorbed a barrage of blows from fearsome puncher George Foreman before knocking him out in their 1974 heavyweight championship classic.

“You have to be tactically flexible in Test rugby and that’s why I am so pleased for the team.

“We got an opportunity to score a try (near the end) and we took it. That’s the sign of a good side.

“Other sides will have 60 percent of the possession and we have to score points with that possession and then we’ll be a really good team.”

Jones paid tribute to man-of-the-match flanker Chris Robshaw, who lost the England captaincy to Dylan Hartley when the Australian took charge last year.

“He’s a really good solid Test six (blindside flanker),” he said.

“I saw someone describe him like a Richard Hill, that’s what he’s like, he does all the unseen stuff in the game, makes the good tackles, keeps driving forwards, cleans out and that’s what he’s done, game after game, eight games in a row since he lost the captaincy.

“It was difficult when he lost the captaincy, it’s not a pleasant experience, but he’s bounced back really well and we’re all delighted for him tonight.”

Robshaw, who celebrated his 50th international cap in Saturday’s win, praised his teammates resolve to restrict the Wallabies to just one try after they scored four in Brisbane the previous week.

“They had a huge amount of possession but you look at the character of the guys, getting up making double tackles and getting back into line,” Robshaw told reporters.

Robshaw picked out the passage of play in first-half injury time when England held out Australia on their try-line for 21 phases.

“That passage pretty much summed up the game,” he said.