England vs South Africa: Eddie Jones believes high tackles and red cards will decide an autumn international

England head coach is wary of the repercussions that await any high tackles from his players, but believes it is essential to making the game safer for all

Eddie Jones has warned his England players that the new interpretation of dangerous tackles means they are no longer protected from the danger of red cards, ahead of what is certain to be a physical war at Twickenham on Saturday.

England face South Africa in the first of their four Quilter Internationals facing an almighty challenge in the form of a mammoth Springbok pack that boasts 128 international caps more than the young England eight that Jones has been forced to pick.

Beyond sending home the No 8 Ben Morgan, whose 31 international caps all came before Jones took the top job at Twickenham, Jones had little to choose from in terms of experience after losing the likes of Mako and Billy Vunipola to injury, along with long-serving forwards Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Chris Robshaw.

With nearly 400 international caps unavailable, England risk being physically dominated by a fearsome Springbok pack that has Eben Etzebeth and Malcolm Marx back in the mix, having both missed the summer series victory over Jones’ side. In response, England know they will have to fight fire with fire, with the Australian admitting that they will need to not only match the intensity of the South Africans but surpass it to stand a chance.

That could well lead to a few tasty challenges that gain the attention of the match officials, and following the spate of red cards this season for dangerous tackles that make contact with the head, Jones believes such decisions will inevitably end up deciding Test matches this month.

“The law doesn’t look after you if you tackle high, it’s just the way it is,” Jones said. “We haven’t spent that much time on it and we don’t intend to because the players just have to learn it’s a new game now.

“I was involved in the original committee about the tackle height, and we need to make the game safer. Has common sense been applied to the law? You’re probably better than me to make judgements on that, but I think the law is right and we need to keep moving in that direction.

“Everyone said when they brought in outlawing the tip-tackle that it would be a horrific situation. Within six months no one talks about a tip tackle now, do they? It’s out of the game, it’s a safer game for the players and it’s the same thing that will happen with the tackle law. Personally I’m 100 per cent supportive of it to make the game safer and there will be an adjustment period that is always difficult but we’ll get through that adjustment period and the game will be safer.

“If the game’s going to be better then that’s the price you’ve got to pay.”

Jones is wary of the new interpretations of high tackles ahead of the autumn internationals (Reuters) (Action Images via Reuters)

But despite his obvious concerns over such decisions impacting an England Test result over the next four weeks, Jones spent little to no time during the eight-day training camp in Portugal addressing the tackling techniques of his players.

“Each player has got to adjust their technique,” he explained. “It’s not a team thing, it’s each player has to learn to adjust their technique to the tackle and they’ve got to do it themselves.

“We monitor all their actions in training, if they’re tackling too high in training we’ll talk to them.”

Jones intends on discussion how the new interpretations are being implemented by officials at a meeting next Wednesday, but that comes after the opening Quilter International as the game with the Springboks falls outside of the designated Test window, meaning that his side head into something of an unknown this weekend.