EDDIE JONES expects South Africa to try and smash the doors off England’s World Cup house party.
Yokohama Stadium was raving to the sound of on-field hits on Saturday, as Jones’ stars crushed the All Blacks dynasty.
In four days, the soundtrack will be heavy metal as the ultra-physical Springboks rock up for a repeat of the 2007 final.
Back then, Aussie Jones was a support act for the Boks as part of the backroom team that helped mastermind a 15-6 win over Brian Ashton’s England.
It has taken another 12 years for England to get back to the ultimate end-of-year do.
And this time Jones knows exactly what to expect.
The Red Rose boss said: “They are going to come through the front door.
“There are not many Springbok teams that don’t come through the front door.
“So we have got to be ready at the front door and have enough cover at the back door, too.
“They are a massively aggressive, physical forward pack. They are going to be a difficult side to beat.
“We know a couple of areas that we can expose in them and we’ll make sure we are well prepared in those areas.”
You might think preparing for 15 blokes bigger than some of the ugliest and meanest animals in Kruger Park would take all week.
In fact, England will train properly for the first time on Tuesday, before revving things up with their biggest session the day after and then naming their team on Thursday.
Jones has coached in four World Cups, losing the 2003 final to England when in charge of Australia and then winning with the Boks four years later.
It’s making sure we don’t over-coach the players and we allow them to find their own rhythms in the week.
He said: “It’s always about doing less.
“We’re at the end of a seven-week tournament, so it’s about focusing on what’s going to be a significant part of the game.
“It’s about doing certain things right.
“Keeping the players fresh physically, keeping them fresh mentally, making sure they have enough to do off the field — so it’s just getting the balance right in preparation.
“Coaches tend to think they’ve got to do more.
“It’s making sure the coaches’ discipline is right and we don’t over-coach the players and we allow them to find their own rhythms in the week.
“They’ll be ready to go — you don’t lack motivation for a World Cup final.
“They’ve got the gameplan in their head, they know how they want to play and are aware of the challenges ahead.
“That’s why we can be fairly relaxed this week — we’ve done a lot of hard work, we know what is ahead of us, we know we can play to our strengths.
“But we don’t feel we’ve played as well as we can either and the challenge for us is to keep improving.”
After telling England fans to hit the beers for the semi-final against New Zealand, Jones wants to see an even rowdier crowd out-sing and out-drink the Boks in Yokohama.
He added: “I think it’s great. With Brexit they probably need something to cheer about.
“It’s a job of the team to make the country happy, not as happy as they can be because there is still a game to go.
“I thought our supporters last Saturday were massively instrumental in getting us home. Their singing, their general support of the team were fantastic and we urge them to keep doing that.
“We know the final comes with pressure but we are excited about handling that — and it feels that’s an advantage we have got.”
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