MY ACCOUNT
Glen Ella says Eddie Jones will be thriving on coming under fire and expects England to step up when they face Australia in a three-match Test series next month.
The 62-year-old heads back to his homeland with the Red Rose smarting from a chastening warm-up hammering at the hands of the Barbarians following a disappointing Six Nations campaign.
Jones is undefeated against his country of birth during his England tenure, and famously oversaw a series whitewash in 2016.
Ella, a former school-mate of Jones who also played club rugby with him at Randwick and was his assistant six years ago, feels he will conjure up a response with his back against the wall and with key men to return.
“I sit here laughing when I see some of the press that is coming out of England,” he told The Guardian. “Some of it is warranted, there’s no doubt about that, but this is what he thrives on.
“They’ll come over here and put three good games together, that wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
“He thrives under that kind of pressure and that probably brings the best out of him, especially away from England, in an environment that he knows.
“He probably left not on the best terms in Australia but the one thing about Eddie is that he’s got a lot of belief in himself and a lot of belief in his team.”
The Wallabies will have a point to prove after failing to get the better of England under Jones and they are a different proposition under Dave Rennie.
“It’s harder coaching a foreign team, as Eddie is finding at the moment, and to win the Australian public over they need to win the series,” Ella added.
“But it’s a different Australia these days and especially with the Super Rugby sides on the up, there’s big expectation. England have beaten the Australians eight times under Eddie and so [Australia’s] got a lot to answer for.”
