England coach Eddie Jones expects the All Blacks to win the upcoming series against the British and Irish Lions.

Advantage All Blacks, says England rugby coach Eddie Jones. These British and Irish Lions, just hours away from touching down in New Zealand, are simply too Welsh to defeat the best team on the planet in a series.

Jones, whose opinions are never short of a thinly buried dig at someone or something, reckons the Lions, who arrive in New Zealand on Wednesday, will "struggle" to beat the All Blacks because of the Welsh coaching influence in the touring squad.

You don't have to dig too deep into the tourists' media guide either to realise his principal target in this theory is none other than head coach, and New Zealander, Warren Gatland, who when he's not leading the Lions on safari is in charge of the Wales national team.

DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES Warren Gatland chose 12 Welshmen in his 41-strong squad for the 10-match tour of New Zealand.

As ever, when it comes to Jones' comments on international rugby, his words have to be taken with a grain of salt.

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GETTY IMAGES Wales captain Sam Warburton is also the captain of the Lions.

Whilst the wildly successful England coach, who has lost just one international since taking charge after the 2015 World Cup failure, has plenty of respect for Steve Hansen's All Blacks, Home Union rivalries also come into play here.

Gatland chose 12 Welshmen in his 41-strong squad for the 10-match tour of New Zealand. England, meanwhile, have 16 in the touring squad, Ireland 11 and Scotland just two.

It may well be that Jones believes his dominant England squad deserved a bigger representation. Or possibly just that he doesn't like Gatland's coaching style.

"I think it's going to be very tough for them," Jones told former England international Brian Moore on his Full Contact podcast with The Telegraph newspaper's website.

"They picked their squad to play a certain style based on the influence of the Welsh coaches.

"They are looking to attack like Wales, with big gain-line runners, with not much ball movement. You'll struggle to beat the All Blacks like that.

"If they win the first test, they could win the series. If they don't, it might be a tough old series for them."

Jones, who had some success against the All Blacks in his time as Australian head coach, explained what he viewed as the keys to defeating the New Zealanders.

"The All Blacks are not only a physical contest, it's a big mental contest. You've got to be very disciplined in the way you play, you've got to chip away at them, you've got to keep pressure on them and you've got to exert pressure in areas they don't like, which is traditionally the close set-piece plays.

"But then you have to have the ability when you create opportunities to turn them into points.

"Ireland did it really well, [but] I think the LIons are going to struggle."

Jones also spoke glowingly of the All Blacks when asked whether he would like to play Hansen's men more than the scheduled one time they're due to meet before the next World Cup.

"Once a month would be good," he told Moore. "The more you play against the best team, the more you learn where you need to improve, and they are the best team in the world.

"Until you play them you never know where the gaps are, what you need to work on and where you're better than they are. It's disappointing, but we don't control that."