England have long been a side the rest of the world want to beat, but they have no intention of adopting a “siege mentality” when they begin their Six Nations title defense next month.
“I don’t think we need to,” coach Eddie Jones said after announcing his tournament squad at Twickenham on Friday. “It’s something the other countries use to their advantage. We’re the biggest country, in the UK, and we have advantages over the other countries and they know that.”
“It’s easy for them to have that siege mentality. It’s hard for us to say we’re disadvantaged against Ireland, Wales or Scotland, isn’t it?” he added.
“We’ve got more players, we’ve got the biggest union in the world, we can’t have that siege mentality. I don’t want us to have that siege mentality, I only think it works in certain situations and that doesn’t take you on to the world stage,” Jones said.
England head into their Six Nations opener against France at Twickenham on Feb. 4 on a 14-match winning streak, with 13 of those victories coming since Jones took charge after their first-round exit on home soil at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Jones, who has repeatedly made it clear his main goal with England is to win the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, said focusing on their rivals’ resentment was not the way to knock world champions New Zealand off the summit of global rugby union.
“The Six Nations is a very important tournament, but we are aiming to be the No. 1 team in the world and we need to have the right mentality, which is a growth mentality,” he said.
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