Eddie Jones has turned England into 'ruthless' winners, says Chris Robshaw
Sunday 4 February 2018 17:26, UK
Chris Robshaw believes the superior man-management skills of head coach Eddie Jones have helped England develop the confidence they needed to become "ruthless" winners.
England have flourished into a dominant force since Jones succeeded Stuart Lancaster in November 2015, winning 22 of 23 Tests and back-to-back Six Nations titles.
They begin their title defence on Sunday against Italy in Rome as favourites to secure a third successive crown and Robshaw credits Jones with instilling a winning mindset into the squad.
Robshaw explained: "He is the best man-manager I have ever met. Every morning at breakfast, he will come in and speak to every single person on every table, go round and it gives you that personal touch.
"He knows how to get the best out of you. For some people it may be texting them, other people it may be giving them a bit of a shouting, other people it is giving them that confidence and that love.
"Other people, it is having a bit of banter. Whatever it may be, he knows how to read people extremely well.
"The big difference now to the same point before the 2015 World Cup is that we have gone unbeaten in series and picked up silverware.
"Before, unfortunately, we never quite managed to get there. We finished the four Six Nations second and we were always the 'nearly' guys.
"I didn't think we managed to win an autumn series or a summer tour with a clean sweep."
England failed to get out of their group at the 2015 World Cup on home soil and finished as Six Nations runners-up for four successive seasons before Jones took over.
Robshaw added: "We played some great games but we weren't quite ruthless enough. Eddie's bullish approach has given us that ruthless streak. He's instilled that into us.
"With Eddie, it's more the mental side. He gives you that confidence to go out there and play well. He doesn't over-complicate things.
"A lot of coaches will tell you to go away and work on 10 things, and if you do all 10, they will find something else and you still won't be in the team.
"Eddie will tell players to work on two or three things and says, 'If you can do that, you will be in my side'.
"He's very to the point. He is bullish with his approach, and that has made this side ballsy."
