Jones to fly in on recon mission

Australia coach Eddie Jones is to fly into Britain next week on a spying mission ahead of the Wallabies’ World Cup defence later this year.

Jones will watch the RBS 6 Nations games between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield on March 8 and the clash between England and Italy at Twickenham on March 9.

Australia play Ireland, Wales and England in that order at the end of the Tri-Nations series before the World Cup begins on October 10.

“I’ll watch a couple of games and speak to a few coaches to find out what’s happening in European rugby,” said Jones.

“We don’t see European rugby that much. I want to see if there are any trends in the game. I went over for a week this time last year and it was very beneficial.”