Eddie Jones relieved with win after Mum asks whether he was going to get the sack

Eddie Jones revelled in silencing the hate mob after admitting that he was under so much pressure, even his mother had asked when he was going to lose his job.

A fifth-minute try by Billy Vunipola and 20 points from the boot of man of the match Owen Farrell ensured England levelled the series in Brisbane to relieve the pressure on head coach Jones.

However, England will head to Sydney for the series decider without talismanic second row Maro Itoje who suffered a concussion while flanker Sam Underhill will also have to pass the return to play protocols after another head collision. Underhill has already suffered two concussions this season.

Jones will also travel to his home city with less scrutiny over his position after England secured just their fifth away win since the 2019 World Cup. Despite professing to be unconcerned by the security of his position, Jones says his mother, Nell, has been monitoring the increasingly hostile media coverage.

“I think it is fantastic,” Jones said. “I love my mother ringing me up in the morning saying ‘are you going to get sacked? Are you going to get sacked? When do you have to move? Are you going to come back to Australia? Come back and live in Randwick.’ I love that. My poor mother. But I don’t mind it because I have made the choice to take the job and that’s always going to happen because there’s infatuation with sacking coaches now isn’t there?"

Australia had won their past 10 matches at the Suncorp Stadium heading into the fixture. However, Jones boasted a 100 per cent record at the ground in international rugby, both as Wallabies and England head coach, and took extra satisfaction from winning in the venue where he led the Queensland Reds.

“I love coaching at Suncorp,” Jones said. “That is a good experience. You have got 48,000 people all full of drink and all they want to see is their team win. When you turn them away, it is a great experience. A great feeling. I was coming out from the coaches’ box and they all have their scarves on. When did Australians start wearing scarves? It is all the rage isn’t it? They are not so smart now. Before the game they are coming up saying to me you are going to get belted tonight. Now they are a little bit more quiet. So that’s good. I enjoy that.”

Jones had made a bold move in handing debuts to Tommy Freeman, Guy Porter and Will Joseph, who came into the matchday squad after Jack Willis was withdrawn, as well as a first start to scrum half Jack van Poortvliet. By and large, Jones was vindicated by those changes with England racing into a 19-0 lead.

“We just had that extra week of training,” Jones said. “We're a young inexperienced team, I think we've given out five new caps in the last two weeks. We had three out there today. We've got players from 13 different clubs and we need training time together. We got more on the same page this week and next week we'll be on the same page even more.”

Australia fought back to 22-17 in the second half with Marcus Smith in the sin-bin, but England just about held their nerve to see out a morale-boosting victory.

“I was more pleased with the last 15 minutes; the way we fought,” Jones said. “For a young team to be under that sort of pressure at Suncorp, playing against a team who are really comfortable at that ground and the referee was starting to even the (penalty) count up – it’s a really difficult situation. But they stuck together. We had three new caps out there at the end of the game and to play with that level of maturity and toughness is a really good sign for the team, for the future.”