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England ended the Six Nations in second place. Inpho

Jones sees Twickenham collapse as 'a great lesson' for England

The hosts squandered a 31-point lead and needed a last-gasp try to snatch a draw against Scotland.

EDDIE JONES WAS relieved to get England’s second-half horror show against Scotland out of the way, believing it was better to come in what was essentially a Six Nations dead rubber rather than at the Rugby World Cup.

England were in scintillating form in the first half at Twickenham and led 31-0 after four unanswered tries, only to then collapse spectacularly.

Scotland took control to lead by seven and only a last-ditch George Ford try and conversion allowed the hosts to claim a thrilling 38-38 draw against their Calcutta Cup rivals on Saturday.

Jones acknowledged afterwards that England have problems that need addressing but, having seen Wales wrap up the Grand Slam earlier in the day, he welcomed the dismal dip as a lesson.

“Unfortunately, it’s a reoccurring problem we have got,” he told ITV Sport. “I was just saying in the dressing room it was similar in the first Test against South Africa in June.

“We got out to a big lead, had the run of the game and then we lost control of the game and we don’t find a way to get the control of the game back.

“We probably should have been ahead by more, we gave them some easy points at the start of the second half and then again couldn’t get control of the game back.

“It’s not something you can fix easily. It’s something that is going to take some digging deep into the team psyche. We think we’ve got a pretty good idea what the problem is, but it’s going to take time to fix. We’ll be able to do that pre-World Cup.

“I think it’s a great lesson for us. I would rather have these sort of games now than have them at the World Cup. We know what the problem is, but it’s not easy to fix.

“It’ll take time to fix it, but that’s why you have pre-World Cup preparation.”

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    Mute Brian Jones
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    Mar 17th 2019, 12:29 AM

    Most enjoyable rugby game to watch ever. And I’m Irish. Must have been a complete head-wrecker for the Scottish and English fans. It was a mad 80 minutes

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    Mute Greg Cavey
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    Mar 17th 2019, 12:39 PM

    @Brian Jones: Just goes to show when Scotland click that’s the beautiful rugby they can play. Finn Russell is the form out half in Europe and you could argue in the world. I for one will be very very nervous when we play them first up in the WC. We just can’t afford to start slow or we’re doomed.

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    Mute Mousse
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    Mar 17th 2019, 12:43 AM

    Unbelievable stuff. Imagine how much more exciting that game would have been if Ireland had a stake in the outcome!

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    Mute David A Roberts
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    Mar 17th 2019, 1:39 AM

    So Eddie can fix it before the World Cup but do the maths.. it happened 9 months ago against South Africa and he didn’t fix it.. and now there is 6 months left to fix the same problem which ‘won’t be easy to fix’. Go figure!

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    Mute Kevin Macdonald
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    Mar 17th 2019, 6:22 AM

    Great game but same old problems for Scotland school boy errors and a lack of excellence of execution killed us.

    We need a new defence coach and set piece forwards coach.

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    Mute Peter Brophy
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    Mar 17th 2019, 1:33 AM

    Is it me or does Eddie Jones strut around like a Star Wars villain? BRING ME HIS HEAD

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    Mute Martin Quinn
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    Mar 17th 2019, 8:14 PM

    @Peter Brophy:

    He is the image of Study from the “The Simpsons” when he plays the dark one in their interpation of Star Wars

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    Mute BMJF
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    Mar 17th 2019, 9:31 AM

    It’s called arrogance Eddie… good luck trying to fix it. England in great shape going into World Cup all the same and have to be one of the favourites. Ireland now part of the also rans with bookies is imagine… we’ll always be in danger of pulling out a huge performance but struggle to string them together

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    Mute Tauri Ursique
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    Mar 17th 2019, 8:19 PM

    Is there any possibility that Owen Farrell might see a red card before he kills someone with his late and dangerous no hands shoulder charges. Yesterday was the third time I’ve seen him do it in the last 5 months!

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