Jones pleased with 'team effort'
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:27
Saracens Director of Rugby Eddie Jones hailed the effort and commitment of his team, following their 32-27 victory in Toulon on Wednesday.
In front of a crowd of nearly 9,000, two scores from Harry Spencer and further tries from Hugh Vyvyan and Dave Seymour rounded off a fine team display that also saw them have to work extra hard in the final minutes after being reduced to 13 men.
Replacements Alex Walker and Tom Mercey were both yellow carded for technical offences very late in the game, but the visitors held on against a first choice Toulon side who included the likes of All Black Jerry Collins and new Rugby League convert Sonny Bill Williams in their line-up.
"It was a really good team effort and we followed on well from what we achieved in the Western Force game last week," explained Jones.
"This was a completely different team we were up against and it was a very committed display from the players especially as we finished the match with 13-men. This was against a side who put out their best team and whose competition starts next week."
Jones was also pleased with how the side is beginning to adapt to the new ELVs being introduced this season.
He added: "Our work off the ball was very good and another pleasing factor was that all our tries came from turnover ball which means we are adapting well to the ELVs. There is obviously still a long way to go, but if there is one thing we have seen with the ELVs, it's that teams are looking to play a lot more with unstructured ball."
Saracens travel to the Newport Gwent Dragons on Friday, at Rodney Parade, for their final warm-up match before the season begins with the London double header against Harlequins at Twickenham on Saturday September 6.
And Jones will be looking for those players involved in that game to continue the hard work.
He added: "We've spoken to the players about the need to play for the team because that is the most important thing and we saw that in Toulon. An example is Edd Thrower who was on briefly in the first half but he made two very important tackles in a short space of time - he did his job for the team and that is what we are looking to develop.
"So while there will be pressure on individuals to perform, the real pressure is on them to keep evolving as a team and that is what we are looking for on Friday."
