Coach says 'someone is smiling on us' as he plans a beef and beer break in Miyazaki for his team. Then it will be back to work for next weekend's quarter-final.

TOKYO, 10 Oct - Eddie Jones is taking full advantage of England's unexpected time off to head to his rugby "happy place".

And he is planning a 'beef and beer break' to get his players firing for a quarter-final against either Australia or Wales.

The city in the south of Japan provided the Australian with the training base from which he plotted the Brave Blossoms' historic Rugby World Cup 2015 campaign that produced three wins, including the defeat of South Africa in Brighton.

Before England kicked a ball in anger at RWC 2019, they spent eight days using the same training facilities at the five-star hotel close to the famously choppy seas that provided the setting for the World Surfing Games last month. Joe Cokanasiga had a try at paddle-boarding, pictured, on England's pre-tournament visit.

Jones had no hesitation in booking a three-day camp once he discovered England would not be in action this weekend. From Miyazaki, they will then have a three-hour bus ride to Oita for their quarter-final date on Saturday, 19 October.

Jones said: "We are excited about the prospect of having great preparation for the quarter-final now. We did get some leeway over the next three days and so we are off to Miyazaki for a short pre-season camp.

"We love Miyazaki beef. We have 80kgs of a special consignment coming Saturday night and Billy (Vunipola) is allowed his beef again. We will do a bit of light training Friday, a good hit-out on Saturday, a few beers, some beef and get ready for the week ahead.

"We are not concerned at all, we are excited. Who would have thought we would have two relatively easy games, one tough game and then two weeks to prepare for a quarter-final? Someone is smiling on us. The typhoon gods maybe."

Jones will want to ensure his players use their training time wisely and dismissed the notion that not having played for two weeks will have a negative impact on the team’s chances of making the last four.

He added: "We have a fairly exceptional record in two-week preparations. We are batting at around 95 per cent so we have to find five per cent from somewhere.

“Of course, everyone is disappointed we are not playing France. We put a lot of emotional, physical and tactical work in, but we don’t control the situation. Two weeks is the preparation we have, so why worry about it? We are prepared to take it."

One bonus for England is the time it gives injured number eight Billy Vunipola, prop Joe Marler and winger Jack Nowell to recover. All three looked certain to have missed the game with France but Jones is confident he will have all 31 players available to for the quarter-final.

RNS cj/js/icr