Sir Clive full of praise for Eddie Jones

Sir Clive Woodward believes England have developed the game to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

England’s 48-14 victory over Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday extended Eddie Jones’ record to 22 wins from 23 matches since his appointment as head coach in November 2015.

Woodward, who guided England to World Cup glory in 2003, feels Jones’ side has “something special” and will be challenging champions New Zealand at the 2019 tournament in Japan.

“If I was an England player I would be going back to my club after the autumn games very excited,” Woodward told BBC Radio 5 live’s Sportsweek program.

“They know the big goal is the World Cup in Japan and as a player, deep down, you know you’ve got a chance and you’re going there not to make the numbers.

“You know you’re in something special and England will be there in two years’ time right at the top of the tree,” Woodward said.

“What I like about England now is that they can play a whole variety of ways.

“They show some great skills, but when they want to play really tough and go physically at teams they can do that as well.”

England brushed aside Argentina, Australia and Samoa this autumn ahead of the start of their Six Nations title defence in February.

And Woodward puts England’s renaissance since flopping at the 2015 World Cup on home soil down to Australian Jones.

“It’s been staggering to win (22 out of 23) from, for me, what was a shambles in the 2015 World Cup,” Woodward said.

“To not get out of the pool and lose to Australia and Wales at Twickenham was not a good time.

“Eddie’s added new players and it’s just the competitive nature of the squad, he’s brought a real toughness into the team.

“The senior players also had a great autumn – (Dylan) Hartley was fantastic as captain and (Chris) Robshaw was also really strong – so it’s not the young guns coming through.

“Senior guys know they’ve got a chance in a couple of years’ time, which is again testament to the coach setting a pretty tough regime behind the scenes.”

England have not played New Zealand under Jones’ stewardship and Woodward reckons that game would be hard to call if it were played now.

“It is impossible to say who would win, but England would go 50-50 into that game with nothing to fear,” Woodward said.

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