Eddie Jones plans to hire a psychologist to help England overcome their mental weakness, which he says is a consequence of their horror 2015 World Cup campaign.
England fell apart in speculator fashion at Twickenham on Saturday when they blew a 31-0 lead to draw 38-38 with Scotland, who in the process retained the Calcutta Cup.
Jones says the capitulation is indicative of the players’ inability to cope with pressure, and he believes that frailty can be traced back to the mental scars left by England’s premature exit from their home World Cup nearly four years ago.
‘It’s like we have some hand grenades in the back of a jeep and sometimes they go off when there’s a lot of pressure. We have a few of them and the team has probably had it since the 2015 World Cup,’ Jones explained.
But the 59-year-old insists his team’s psychological problems can be fixed with help from the right people.
‘Whenever you have a difficult tournament or difficult games, there’s always a lingering thought process there. Sometimes it takes longer than you’d like to fix it, but it is fixable. I’ve got one person that’s going to help us that’s a bit of an expert. I’m not sharing that name with you now. I haven’t used her before.’
England will compete in Pool C alongside Argentina, France, Tonga and the United States at the World Cup in Japan later this year.
Photo: Reuters
