Eddie Jones claps back at media after Australia win against Georgia rugby

We have the headphones, okay, everyone. Welcome to the Australian post-match press conference. We have captain Will Skelton and coach Eddie Jones. First question, please, here in the

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. Eddie, did you get everything you wanted out of that game? And in particular, what? Are the areas that impress you the most and, on the other hand, what are the areas that you will be looking to improve for next week against Fiji? Well, in the first round you want to be with Five Points, so I think I got five points, um, then parts of the play, yeah, it's the first time I've been in a game against Georgia or a training session against Georgia where their scrum hasn't dominated or doesn't seem to dominate so a real credit to Neil Hatley and the front row and tanell in his 50th cap and bell and peki and obviously the rest of the group uh for their efficiency in the scrum and the form where they scrumed and then I thought secondly our turn kicks were really good, we put Mark in a number of situations where you know he really caused a lot of problems for the opposition so those are two really key and promising areas for us. .

Well, Eddie, can you tell us a little more about Ben Donaldson's contribution? Obviously, he was probably a surprise pick from outside the team, so yeah, what do you think of his performance? Yeah, I think, as I mentioned in the

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selection briefing, he trained the whole

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championship at 15 because we had Quaade and Carter were training at 10. so we knew what he was capable of, um, we felt that in a game like that there's going to be a lot of kicking because Georgia, you know, plays very similar to France, they're a high kicking team, so their long kick was invaluable, you know?

He's a very good decision maker and obviously his goal kick was good, not obviously, but his goal kick was first class. Tom um Eddie. I think that seven penalties that you considered today there was a statistic that said that it is the first time in 30 southern events that it has been like this. How important was that in that victory? Well, I think it's a testament to his leadership on the field. I think you know that penalties are usually due to people getting out of control, yes, no one, no player, tries to give away a penalty, so a player feels that he has a force to go out of the team's patent or the team philosophy and awards a penalty um and I think you know it's a real credit to Will the way he's leading both teams the way he's.

I got the guys together off the field and there's a real feeling that you know this team could do something and you know they're all working for each other, so that could be one of the reasons why maybe Luke Pierce likes it this. Where was that one? Where's that pommy guy? Where was he from? From the Daily Telegraph, one of my favorite newspapers. Where is the? He's not here today. I bet if we lost, he'd be here. Maybe we should send him an invitation. Know his name. Charles Charles Charles, are you out there, buddy? No, okay? next question Eddie only on penalties, on the other hand, you were happy to pick up points through penalties in the first half, that's something we haven't seen a lot of in Australian

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in recent years, it's a reflection of the tournament.

Did rugby or the Heat have anything to do with it too? I think every time you get down you want to score points, mate, you know that's what the Test match is all about. Rugby is about going down, getting points and if you can kick your goals, kick your goals. Um, and you know, at the time of the Hal, even though the game wasn't one, we put ourselves in a position to win the game and that was by putting pressure on the opposition and turning it into points, um, so again you know there was will leadership. .

It was first class and obviously Donno did his job Chrissy uh Eddie tap mcder looks like you're going to miss that game can you confirm that? But secondly I can't confirm anything now friend. It's good, no? I'm not a I'm not a doctor, okay, he definitely missed the rest of the game during hiia, right, Nick White came in, um, the pace seemed to change a little, um, maybe a little slower, does that go against What are you trying to do with your attack philosophy on speeding? is it okay or not, look, I wouldn't say that maybe you have that judgment, but I wouldn't necessarily agree with you, Ed Eddie, if you were 100% satisfied with the second half, did you feel and maybe I'm taking advantage of the change in the Corridor, do you feel that there were problems with the development of the second half?

You needed a pair of Tri Savers later. The only thing I know in a world cup is that you want to improve week after week, and you know? Like I said, we didn't have the game, but we were in a position to win it at halftime, we didn't really give them a chance to get into the game, so while the second half wasn't our best part, which is probably part of our first half. There were some really good things, um, that's part of our progression in tournament one here. Mel, oh yeah, sorry. Can you talk to us about the feeling among the team?

Im

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te feeling. I guess it was relief. Pride or something. Everyone feels after that, yes, definitely proud of the boys' efforts. Eddie said it wasn't the perfect performance, but we're looking to improve and set a marker. And that's what I thought ended today with that win. Sam, as a big man, how exhausting it is to play in a game like that with so many kicks in those conditions and also how Tanella was after that interception that resulted in Ben dson's first down. Was it hot? Don't know. I know, no, I think it's us, we prepared, we prepared well, the last six weeks we were in Darwin, we are acclimatized for the hot weather, so we were ready for that in terms of tenella, I thought he had a great test.

I thought in his set piece he was very strong in the scrum um and he gave a performance that I thought he would be proud of uh will uh when tapate was on the ground you gathered everyone together and gave them a little acceleration It was quite fruitful, so done the cameras called it um it's the normal way of forming a team and how it was overall, you know, going out and being Captain tonight and you know starting that was obviously pretty special. uh, not just for me but to lead these men uh, I think when Tedy was down about us, it was one of those critical moments where I was able to rally the team and calm them down.

I think that's for me, that was my approach, to calm them down. getting them to do our job again obviously Ted is a big loss but we had to move on quickly to the next job and I thought we did pretty well when we got there okay I have a question here yeah a question for coach Eddie. uh, you played against Georgia as head coach of Japan and you mentioned that the Georgian scram was not that dominant today, but our

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s broke the defensive line several times. How do you think Georgian rugby is evolving over the years since you ranked the game?

Play with them, yes, well, them. you know the strength of the team has changed and the balance of the team has changed, well you still have a very good scrum, you know the game, your game has evolved because you have great young backs, you know the N and both. from NES are good players and the fullback is something special, you know he has that arched and curved run and he doesn't lose speed when he changes direction, so it's very difficult to defend him again, so it's an evolution of George and rugby, um, yeah, you know. I think you always want to keep your strength there, which is your scrum, and then add more to it and I think, again, I can't pronounce the coach's name, but I think he's doing a really good job, you know?

I think they are doing a fantastic job for Georgian rugby and I am sure they will have a good rest of the tournament. We want all the other games to win. Yes, we have Georgian flags in St Edan now displaying them. Make sure you win some games for us, well Eddie can you give us a little update on Tate? Is he talking and feeling good? And, also, did Samu come out with some kind of injury or was he just tactical? and everyone else on the team is fine, yeah, well, Tate is walking around, um, yeah, no, and then he'll do all the medical protocols, um, Sammy, we always plan on playing 40, so whatever the situation is of the game, we wanted to give it a hit.

You know he hasn't played since D Eden, we need to give him some time, but he has returned from several injuries. So the plan was to get it ready for Fiji next week, which you obviously already know. It's an it's and for us it's an important game, but for him you know that playing against your motherland is pretty special so yeah, we want to give him the best opportunity to be ready. Question back, Eddie, was there any frustration in that game? for you, you look at the bigger picture of uh um, you know how well the young players came out.

I'd say it's frustration, maybe conceding a try when, um, George had a player on the simin. Oh, not really, buddy, no, because again you know the world. The Cup is about taking every step and look, if we had planned the perfect preparation for the World Cup, we said at the end of the first round, we want to sit there with Five Points, well, that's what we have, you know, and you. look at our group at the end of the game we probably had, I don't know, 35 caps, yes, we are a young team, it's another great learning experience for them, they played against 80,000 against France, two weeks ago, today they play in front of 75,000, Yeah. so it's a great experience for those young players and every game they will improve a little bit and we will see the improvements as the tournament progresses.

Tom, um Eddie, you came into this tournament without winning a game, which just makes a win, because of the confidence of the group heading to Fiji and you know what the mentality is this week to do pbls on the back or give them Riv ups and Focus on the negative, not the negative. I understand the question, friend, what does a wi like that mean? Do it for trust with the team, let's start with that. We have always been sure of where we are going. You know, I don't have any doubts and I just see how hard the players work and the way they come out at the beginning. of games you know you don't go out and start games and play like that if you lack confidence so I still don't understand your question mate Eddie at the start of the season you picked Ben Donaldson for your first camp.

There was a bit of backlash about how, at the end of the super season, the war let him go and he needed to find another place. What do you think you see in him and what kind of attributes do you have? like in him that maybe the others don't see him uh he comes from Ranwick mate so he has an advantage uh no, I'm trying to pick other rck players but I can't find him at the moment no, no, it seems, I think It's a very, very good rugby player. I think he makes good decisions. I think he has a reasonably high level of decision making.

And he has a pretty sound game, you know, at 10 or 5 in terms of kicking, so you know he doesn't. I'm sure Warar didn't see it in him, but yeah, that's their business, not mine, okay Christie, Eddie, when the World Cup draws were announced. I think almost three years ago, you're the England coach, but you said FG would be one of the Dark Horses, if they got their ways right and maybe emerged in Super Rugby, do they have what are some of those threats that they have and where? they differ from Georgia, yes we will worry about Fij next week, I think at the moment all we want to do is enjoy the victory, you know the players have worked very hard.

I'm going to go to Bordeaux tomorrow and check them out, maybe also have a nice red wine. Maybe I deserve one tomorrow. Yeah, uh, maybe we'll have a nice beer and then we'll go up to the FG on Tuesday, buddy, okay, we could ask one last question here, no, okay, back up, Ed, what do you think about the whistle whistle? crowd against you sorry the whistle the whistle yes from the crowd the referee uh no from the crowd the whistle against you oh right um obviously I'm not popular mate um so at least it's consistent like you want to be popular or unpopular and and I'm consistently unpopular , so it's okay, I can deal with it, it's okay, thank you everyone, thank you, thank you.