'Enjoy the playoff': England coach's brutal sledge for rugby rival

Eddie Jones has hit back at Wales coach Warren Gatland for suggesting England played their World Cup final a game early against the All Blacks.

England stunned many in the rugby world, including the back-to-back reigning World Cup holders after triumphing 19-7 in Saturday night's first semi-final.

One night later, Wales bowed out of the competition after going down to South Africa 19-16 in an arm wrestle that was widely panned by viewers.

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After discussing the disappointment of his own side's exit, Gatland was asked by reporters for his thoughts on the weekend's final between England and South Africa.

“We have seen in previous World Cups that teams sometimes play their final in semi-finals and don’t always turn up for a final,” Gatland said.

“So it will be interesting to see how England are next week and it could be a good game.”

When reporters relayed Gatland's remark to Jones, the England coach his back in sarcastic fashion at his fierce Six Nations rival.

“Well guys, can you just send my best wishes to Warren and make sure he enjoys the third-fourth place play-off.

“We played a great team on Saturday but we don’t feel we’ve played as well as we can and the challenge for us is to keep improving. And there’s small margins now.

"As you go through the tournament, the margins get smaller. The improvements you can make are still significant – we’re looking to see how we can keep improving for this week’s game and that’s the exciting part for us."

England ready for physical Springboks showdown

Jones says England are bracing themselves for a massive physical assault from South Africa in Saturday's World Cup final but added that he expected the odd twist too from the Springboks after they won a turgid semi-final against Wales on Sunday.

Jones was in Yokohama Stadium to watch South Africa reach their first final, since he helped them triumph in 2007, and said he saw pretty much what he expected in a "tough and exacting semi-final".

"They are a massively aggressive physical forward pack, they probably played their stronger team in the second half as opposed to the first," Jones told journalists on Monday. "They are going to be a difficult side to beat but we know a couple of areas that we think we can expose them in."

As for whether South Africa would stick with their kick and chase policy, Jones was wary - but only a little. "Rassie (Erasmus) is a cunning coach so we're prepared for the unexpected," he said.

"They can play in different ways. You saw Faf de Klerk do 15-20 box kicks in the game. We know they can play differently but we also know that they are going to come through the front door. There are not many Springbok teams that don't come through the front door. So we've got to be ready at the front door and have enough cover at the back door too."

Jones said his main role this week was to keep his players relaxed and not try to over-supply them with information, but that is unlikely to apply to scrumhalf Ben Spencer, who arrived in Japan on Monday ready to go straight on to the bench in the World Cup final in place of the injured Willi Heinz.

Spencer has played a total of 20 minutes of international rugby via three late replacement appearances - the first two against South Africa on last year's June tour and the last against Scotland in March.

"Ben has been in and around the squad consistently for the last couple of years so he knows the game, he knows the players," Jones said.

"It's just a great opportunity ahead of him. He has come into the squad and has got to learn a few new things. He's just got to learn a little bit more in the early part of the week and get himself physically and mentally ready."

Jones said that both Jonny May and Owen Farrell were recovering well from the dead legs they received in Saturday's win over New Zealand and expected both to be fit to play. He will name his team for the final on Thursday, with prop Kyle Sinckler the other main injury concern.

With AAP