England vs Samoa: Eddie Jones challenges players to fight Samoan fire with fire and rise to physical battle

Fuelled by off-the-field problems, Samoa will bring a physical threat to England that they have scarcely faced since Jones took control of the side

Eddie Jones knows first-hand the dangers that Samoa will pose his England side (Getty)

Eddie Jones has challenged his England squad to meet Samoan fire with fire in an effort to end 2017 with a record of nine wins from 10 matches, which given he has designated this calendar year as one of development, would be quite the achievement.

With the Red Rose currently in phase two of Jones’ grand plan to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the head coach believes he is on the verge of finding three players for every position, something he has been repeatedly vocal of since taking on the reins, and he will use this Saturday’s autumn international with Samoa to edge closer to completing that goal after making nine changes to the side that despatched Australia 30-6 last weekend.

The obstacle standing in their way is not your normal Samoa side though. They may have fallen to 16th in the world rankings – behind Georgia, Romania and, more importantly Pacific Island rivals Fiji and Tonga – along with not yet qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but they arrive in London very much one of the biggest talking points in world rugby.

The Samoan Rugby Union [SRU] declared itself bankrupt before the autumn internationals began, only for World Rugby to issue a statement to deny the claim. The Rugby Football Union [RFU] will attempt to help their Samoan counterparts this weekend by giving them £75,000 as a goodwill gesture, but the England players have already decided to stay out of the messy row that is unfolding between the SRU and the world governing body and the RFU is keen to do the same.

With the RFU set to generate around £10m from this weekend’s match, that has left something of a bitter taste in the mouths of the Samoans, and they will take to the pitch fuelled by that fire that has been lit inside. Jones is fully aware of the dangers that that can cause, and from first-hand experience, he knows that they will be playing on emotion when they take aim at the English on Saturday.

“We saw last week, 23-20 Ireland vs Fiji, 14-6 Wales vs Georgia., so these sides are capable on their day and this will be Samoa’s big game,” Jones said. “Particularly with all the hoo-ha that’s going around they’ll be motivated.

“I know the Samoans as well as I know any team. I worked as a technical advisor for them in 2006 and I know that when they get their emotional level right they’re a bloody hard side to beat. So we’re anticipating a very physical tough game with them.”

He added: “I spent at least two lots of three weeks over there. Michael Jones was the head coach at that time, who is an absolute icon. You work with those players and they’re the most physical and athletic players in the world. I always remember one game when we played against Tonga in, I think it was called the Pan-Pacific Tournament, and that’s like England against Scotland. It’s a real derby and it’s for the bragging rights of the Pacific and I remember that we won that game and I remember that night it was a real Samoan party!”

Samoa's financial struggles will fuel the players' passion to deliver on Saturday (Getty)

Such is this physical dominance that resides inside the Samoans, many teams have attempted to take the emotion out of the game and try to ignore the brutally big tackles that inevitably come their way. England will do no such thing though, and Jones has prepared his side to take them on at their own game by “physically dominating” their opponents this weekend, albeit in a structured way.

The brawl that erupted in 2005 when England hosted Samoa – which led to both Lewis Moody and Alesana Tuilagi being shown red cards – is the perfect example of what can happen when a team tries to take on the physicality of the Samoans. Yet Jones trusts his side to remain on the right side of the law.

“I think anyone who play rugby is tough and courageous,” he said. “Island players love the game to be free, Samoan players love the game to be free, they want to counter-attack, they want to run off loose forwards.

“The greatest challenge for us is to be disciplined, and to be physical, so we’ve got to physically dominate them but be disciplined at the same time. Don’t give them opportunities to attack off kick returns, keep the game nice and structured and tight, and then it becomes a game that you can manager. Otherwise it’s one of those hit-and-miss games like Ireland had against Fiji, and you don’t want to be in that position.”