England

The pressure is begining to mount on the England Saxons but, for Sale Sharks star Chris Jones, the added weight on their shoulders is just more motivation to put in a strong performance.

The Saxons face Ireland A in the Churchill Cup this Sunday, their fourth fourth consecutive final - the previous three of which they have won.

"The pressure is good it builds a competitive edge and makes the guys raise their game." said Jones

"We have fantastic players and something that we have always talked about was not getting complacent. We don't want to be the team that loses the record."

Unbeaten in 13 matches since June 2006, Saxons will take on Ireland A at Dick's Sporting Goods park, Denver on Sunday.

Jones knows the squad need to step up if they are to walk away with the silverware. "We are going to have to reach another level when we face Ireland A." continued Jones.

"They will be used to playing at high intensity and after three phases against USA there were gaps around the field, I don't think it will be as easy as that this week."

Having not performing to their best against Argentina Jaguars, where they struggled to squeeze a 28-20 victory, England Saxons returned to Infinity Park, Denver last Sunday to put the hosts to the sword (17-56).

"I think all the players felt relief after Sunday's match. Our previous victory over Argentina was a bit disappointing so it was nice to get a good performance and celebrate the win.

"The Argentina match was a bit of a shock to the system and a lot of the guys struggled with the altitude. We were put through our paces is last week's training session so when we faced USA we were used to the conditions and were able to play at a higher intensity, which paid off." concluded Jones.

RFU