England 37-21 Australia: No 'hairdryer' at half-time from Eddie Jones, says Ben Youngs
- Published
England head coach Eddie Jones did not use "hairdryer" treatment at half-time of Saturday's record-equalling 37-21 victory over Australia at Twickenham, says scrum-half Ben Youngs.
The hosts were 16-13 down at the break before a fine second-half display secured their 14th win in a row.
Youngs said of the dressing room at half-time: "It was pretty calm.
"Sometimes there's time for the hairdryer but we were just a bit flat. Eddie said 'you can't play any worse.'"
England's fourth victory of the year over Australia saw them equal their record of 14 Test wins in a row, set between 2002 and 2003 by the team that would go on to win the 2003 World Cup.
England 'terrible' in the first half
Australia started brilliantly and could have been more than 10-3 ahead after 25 minutes had England's defence not withstood the visitors' numerous attacks.
"We were terrible the first 20," said Jones, who has been at the helm for 13 of England's 14 wins. "I don't think we could have tried to play any worse than we did.
"The guys rebounded really well mentally and physically to get back into the game.
"Conversely, I thought the beginning of the second half was absolutely outstanding."
The Grand Slam champions were the dominant team after the break, adding three more tries to Jonathan Joseph's first-half score, with Marland Yarde, Ben Youngs and Joseph again crossing.
Jones, who took over following England's abysmal World Cup campaign last year, said: "We were strangely quiet in the warm-up. I sensed the players were a little nervous.
"It was a big occasion. To beat Australia 4-0, continue the unbeaten record, equal England's record of unbeaten games... maybe that weighed on the players minds.
"The most satisfying thing for me is that we keep getting better."
Australia captain Stephen Moore said the score was a fair reflection of the match.
"England are a good side. You don't win that many games in a row without being a good team," said the hooker.
"We dropped a fair bit of ball in the opening stages. We wanted to start well and didn't carry on. This is the end of our season. We will take stock and go again."
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