Wales vs England: Eddie Jones vows to deliver 'knockout' blow in Six Nations Grand Slam battle

The Principality Stadium is used to heavyweight boxing these days but Jones insists his England side will box clever before delivering the knockout punch that will condemn Warren Gatland's side to the 10-count

Eddie Jones has vowed to “knockout” Wales and their Six Nations hopes after ramping up the tensions between the two sides battling it out this Saturday for the Grand Slam.

England will head to Cardiff with wind in their sails after two impressive victories over Ireland and France, though Jones has been determined to instal Wales as the favourites for the Principality Stadium clash – with limited results as Warren Gatland attested to on Thursday.

Though Wales have matched England by beating France and Italy – albeit without a bonus point in either victory – it is the east side of the Severn divide that has made the biggest statement both on the pitch and off it, with England’s performances being matched by Jones’ promise to deliver the crushing blow to Wales’ Grand Slam hopes this weekend.

“It’s one of those games where we want to have plenty of aggression and toughness but we need calm heads,” Jones said on Thursday. “We need to be able to channel it in the right direction. So we need to be able to play tough, think smart. If we do that on Saturday we’ll put ourselves in a great position to win the game.

“They’re going to be full of emotions. They’ve been saying they’re ready to rip off heads, the senior players are holding them back, they watched a play about Ray Gravell – I remember watching him play, he’s a good player hey? A really good player.

“So they’re full of emotions and they’ll bring that to the field and we know Wales teams at home want to come out hard. Our job is to be like that heavyweight boxer that comes in there, knows exactly what he’s going to do, waits for the opportunity for the knockout and then takes it… don’t get involved in endless spars that you can’t win the game about. Just be calm but at the same time tough and have a real steel about us. That’s what I want to see, and I know we’re going to get it. I can see it in the players’ eyes now.”

In a stadium that is known for a knockout punch or two thanks to Anthony Joshua’s recent heavyweight bouts against Carlos Takam and Joseph Parker, that is quite the statement. Wales are rarely blown away these days, least of all at home, and until England got their Cardiff hoodoo off their back in 2015 they had gone 12 long years without a Six Nations victory, and their two wins since have both finished 21-16 where the games have been decided by the slimmest of margins and biggest of moments.

The home side have plenty to motivate them without Jones adding fuel to the fire. For starters, they do not like losing to England full stop, let alone in their own backyard. Secondly, a victory on Saturday will see them record a 12th consecutive victory, something that they have not achieved before in their history.

That in itself brings pressure, and expectation – something England know all about after their world record-equalling run of 18 straight wins.

Eddie Jones was up to his mischievous tricks as he named his England side to face Wales (Getty)

“What you do is you carry more expectation and the thing with expectation is it can work in two ways,” explained Jones. “You’re always addressing it, you’re addressing it from game to game. That’s part of the coaching and part of the preparation of the team, and a massive part of what the senior players are doing in getting the team in the right emotional and social sense for the game.

“You’re doing that game-in, game-out. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a one-game streak, a 15-game streak or a 13-game streak. But what does happen is that the external part of that expectation grows and that’s something you don’t control, and how you handle that you will never know until you’re there.”

They have changed their game a bit, they went away from ‘Wazzaball’ and started to pass a lot more. Now that have come back to a middle ground

But teams do not win 11 matches in a row by luck – especially at international level – and having watched Wales go four from four in the autumn and take that momentum into the Six Nations, the respect is still there from Jones – even if he has decided to single-handedly rename the infamous ‘Warrenball’.

“They have beaten some good teams: Australia, South Africa, France a few weeks ago. Every team that Warren coaches is a good, tough team. They are always good around the gainline; they have changed their game a bit, they went away from ‘Wazzaball’ and started to pass a lot more. Now that have sort of come back to a middle ground where they have a balance between their running and kicking and gainline attack and it’s a good balance that has worked well for them and that’s one of the reasons why they’ve had such a good winning run.”