England are motivated for Autumn Nations Cup final - says Bath's Watson
Anthony Watson insists this weekend's match with France is a big deal
Bath Rugby's Anthony Watson insists England are armed with ample motivation to lift the Autumn Nations Cup by toppling France at Twickenham on Sunday.
Watson insists Eddie Jones' men value the climax to the tournament as an opportunity to win a second piece of silverware immediately after claiming the 2020 Six Nations title and the stage to avenge their only defeat of the year.
Additionally, the Bath wing embraces the chance for England to prove they have learned from their harrowing World Cup final defeat by South Africa 12 months ago.
This is a big deal. We want to win trophies. It's something that when you're done with rugby you can say you've won,'' said Watson, who made his comeback from an ankle injury against Wales last Saturday.
It's irrelevant whether it's the Nations Cup or the Six Nations, a tournament that's just been made or one that's been there for however many years. It's still an opportunity to win a trophy.
Also, putting yourself in finals is where you want to measure yourself as a player. It's the highest pressure game you can play in and it's a real test of you as a player and as a team.''
The Autumn Nations Cup has struggled to capture imaginations because of the focus on defence and kicking.
That is not helped by France being forced to field a shadow team for what should have been a blockbusting climax because of an agreement with their clubs.
It's definitely a big deal, irrelevant of how it's portrayed and irrelevant of all the talk about what team France are putting out. It's a big game,'' Watson said.
There's loads of stuff that could motivate the lads this week. It's a final and there's a trophy to be won at the end of it. In the previous final we played, we didn't win.
It's about going out there and getting used to these finals and putting our gameplan into force which is something we felt we didn't do in the last final.
The lads will not be short on motivation at all. We lost to France in the Six Nations in February and that also helps the motivation.''