Rugby World Cup 2019: Eddie Jones holds back England’s secret weapons but time to learn lessons is running out

What was more surprising from England’s defeat against Wales on Saturday: that they failed with all of the few chances they had to cross the try line, or that Eddie Jones was delighted with it?

The England head coach was in a buoyant mood following the 13-6 defeat, which saw Warren Gatland’s side score the only try of the match and negate their opposition’s attacking talents into a minute by-product of an intense yet low-scoring affair. Had they turned up attacking-wise, England could have salvaged not only a draw from their trip to Cardiff if they converted the last-minute driving maul, but a victory was distinctly possible had the Maro Itoje and Anthony Watson breaks gone rewarded.

Instead, Wales’s fully-committed defence managed to shackle them and emerge with the momentum-building victory that brought the No 1 world ranking with it.

But England may have a trick up their sleeve if Jones’s demeanour afterwards is anything to go by. Following all seven of England’s previous defeats in the 41 matches under the Australian’s tenure, Jones has taken the blame in failing to prepare the team sufficiently to tackle the task at hand, but there was none of that this time around.

“Today was almost the perfect World Cup prep game for us,” he said. “We deliberately set it up, putting our young team out to test their mentality. I thought they handled it well.

“They went in at half-time and we had to show plenty of fight because everything was going their [Wales’s] way, the penalty county was 8-2, they were getting the rub of the green, the bounce of the ball, we had to find a way to get back in the game and I was really pleased with the way that we did. Those are the best World Cup prep games.”

Selection is not the only thing that Jones has held back so far. On Saturday we got a first glimpse of captain Owen Farrell, first-choice hooker Jamie George and Kyle Sinckler – a man who will be hugely influential in how they get on in Japan. They have also held back significant parts of their game plan if what Jones and the players went by is to be believed. That’s rather handy, given Wales found a way to nullify their power game that has been built around the scrum and maul in their last two matches. With Jones ready to deploy his big guns against Ireland this weekend and no doubts around his selection having already named the 31-man squad for the World Cup, we may see something a little bit closer to the genuine England.

“That’s what these games are for,” Jones added. “We went in with a particular strategy, we wanted to get our maul stronger and obviously the defence knows what you are going to do. If you add a few variations, it becomes harder to defend.

“We’ve deliberately tried to play through our set-piece the last two weeks and play a power game. I wanted to test that out to see where we needed to improve. And we’ve got some good improvements in our scrum.

“We’ll definitely have a different selection strategy and definitely have a difference in the way we want to play [against Ireland].”

For the players, it’s much harder to take a deflating defeat at the Principality Stadium – a venue where winning means that little bit more. As Warren Gatland said afterwards, Saturday “felt like a proper test” as the familiar hostile atmosphere ramped up the stakes. But a World Cup warm-up defeat will be quickly forgotten if the benefits are seen in two months’ time when these two nations could feasibly meet again in the quarter-finals.

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“There’s a fair amount of experimentation,” said Farrell. “It’s not all guns blazing for everyone at the same time. As it gets closer and closer, I think you’ll start seeing the best of everyone and people will start showing what they are capable of come the World Cup.

“It’s important we keep building towards what is coming up, but at the same time it is a big Test match and you want to get the result. It will be an exciting game.

“There’s plans in place. A lot of thought has gone into everything we do, behind the scenes, so that we build up to the World Cup, but we can’t deny that we want to win every game we’re playing.”

But one area where England find themselves needing to improve – again – is with their discipline. It was an area of concern in 2018 during their six-month rough patch that triggered what has since transpired to be a large overhaul of the squad. This time around, those disciplinary issues don’t feel as deep-rooted as they were back then, though it is something that will need to be addressed against Ireland or risk those lingering questions from casting a shadow over the side when they go into the big pool games against Argentina and France.

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“It felt like we made it difficult for ourselves at times,” said Itoje. “We probably need to tidy up our discipline. That’s probably the biggest thing because we were conceding penalties and we could not sustain pressure. Test-match rugby is all about sustaining pressure.

“To be honest, I never felt vulnerable during the game. Even when they scored I did not feel vulnerable. We have learnt some good lessons. This is probably better to face this now than later on. This is a very good World Cup prep for us.”

But the preparation runs out in 160 minutes time, and with Italy up after Ireland, it is likely that the lessons can only be implemented in this weekend’s clash with another genuine World Cup challenger. If England fail to learn, then there will not be a lot left to suggest that they will do so in time for Japan.