How Eddie Jones’ half-time team talk inspired England to turn deficit against Japan into victory

Charlie Ewels has lifted the lid on Eddie Jones’ half-time team talk after England fought back at Twickenham to overturn Japan’s lead and seal a 35-15 victory.

England initially pulled ahead through an early Danny Care try but soon found themselves hot under the collar as Japan hit back hard.

Tries from Ryoto Nakamura and captain Michael Leitch – a sensational solo effort that saw the 30-year-old skip his way past four England defenders – saw the visitors head into the break with a 15-10 lead.

But a strong second-half outing spared England the embarrassment of a shock defeat at the hands of the Brave Blossoms, with the hosts scoring 25 unanswered points after the break to secure victory.

And speaking after the game, Ewels gave the lowdown on the half-time talk that helped inspire England’s comeback.

“It’s not frantic,” he said. “It’s not like he’s screaming at us. But he is hard, he knows what he wants, he is questioning your character which, as a rugby player, is something that hurts – and so it should.

“He is firm in what he is saying and, ultimately, if you are not doing it, he’ll bring you off. That is obvious, he doesn’t need to say that. He’s proven that in the past – bringing guys off.

“If you are not delivering, if you are not doing your part and if your attitude isn’t right and you are not winning your collisions, he can’t have you on the pitch. The guys know that.”

Jones, however, talked down the hard edge to his half-time talks.

“It is different these days,” he said. “Once you get past 55 you tone it down. We just talked about the fact we needed more effort and needed to get stuck in. We weren’t getting stuck in and we got stuck in, in the second half. It is really pleasing for us and our players will learn a lot about that.”

The England head coach went on to describe Saturday’s victory as an important learning curve for his side ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

“It was a good lesson,” he said. “You don’t learn those things until you have the lesson. You’ve got to have the lesson. It was fantastic for us. That’s the best game we could have had today.

“We found out about the players and we found out about how much courage we’ve got as a team. We found out how we could have prepared possibly better. We found out a number of things and that’s what we wanted to do.”