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George Smith 'to help out' Eddie Jones' England coaching team

Eddie Jones and George Smith worked together with the Australia national team
Image: Eddie Jones and George Smith worked together with the Australia national team

England head coach Eddie Jones has confirmed Australian flanker George Smith will do some coaching work with the national squad.

The legendary Wallaby, who won 111 caps in the Australia back-row, is currently playing for Wasps in the Aviva Premiership.

Jones has previously worked with Smith and has identified the 35-year-old as someone who can help England at the breakdown, a problem area during the recent World Cup.

"We had a cup of coffee last week and he agreed he's going to come down and do some work with us on the breakdown," Jones confirmed in an interview with Sky Sports News HQ.

"It's a very informal relationship and it's really more about the relationship I have with George but he's obviously a world-class player and we can only benefit from his tuition."

Jones, who inherited the head coach role from Stuart Lancaster after England failed to negotiate the group stages of the World Cup, is confident some of the squad will be moulded into world-class competitors.

George is a world-class player and we can only benefit from his tuition.
Eddie Jones

"If you were to pick a world XV now there probably wouldn't be too many England players in there," he said.

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"The target is in three or four years to have five or six players in there and there are players who are capable of achieving that. We need to give them the best opportunity we can to get there."

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