England won’t copy the All Blacks: Jones

England coach Eddie Jones wants to give his side a unique identity rather copy the template of the all-conquering All Blacks just to prove that there is more than one route to success in the international game.

England have won all nine games since the Australian took over last year but still have some way to go to catch up with the world champions, who earned a top tier record-equalling 17th successive victory in Saturday’s 57-15 humiliation of South Africa in Durban.

“The thing that really annoys me about rugby at the moment, and I’ve got to say it, is that everybody tries to copy New Zealand,” Jones told The Sunday Times.

“Why? Come up with your own game. Everything we’re doing now is about coming up with a game to beat New Zealand and to make them uncomfortable. You can and hopefully will see that by 2018.

“One of the great opportunities we have here in England is that we can rebrand rugby, we can develop a new style that gives people an opportunity to play the game differently from New Zealand. That is exciting me more than anything.”

England, ranked second in the world behind New Zealand, play South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and Australia in this year’s November internationals.

They are not scheduled to face the All Blacks until 2018, although English players are likely to make up a large part of the British and Irish Lions squad that will tour New Zealand next year.

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