Pressure’s on ‘spoilt’ Jones to justify backing
STEVE Larkham has turned up the pressure on former coach Eddie Jones by branding him so “spoilt” for team resources that anything less than a 2019 World Cup triumph will be viewed as a failure with England.
No one in the Wallabies camp preparing for tomorrow’s blockbuster at Twickenham knows the England boss better than Larkham, who played 43 Tests under Jones when he was Australian coach and won a Super Rugby title with him at the Brumbies. It made Larkham’s jab, as Wallabies backs coach, all the more meaningful.
Picking up England from the doldrums after the early exit from the 2015 World Cup was the easy part compared to the two-year run Jones faces to the World Cup where “England Expects” is now the banner over tomorrow and every Test.
He has 4-0 bragging rights over the Michael Cheika-Larkham team at the heart of a remarkable 20 wins from 21 Tests since taking charge.
‘Bring it on’ is always Jones’ tone because he declared this week, “I was employed to win the World Cup and that’s what I’m intending to do.”
“When you’ve got pretty much unlimited resources around you and you’ve had the record that you’ve had, that’s the expectation. That’s where the pressure comes from,” Larkham said.
“He’s probably a little bit spoilt from where he’s come from (with the Australian and Japanese Test teams).”
Jones and his England team have multimillion-dollar backing, starting with an off-field staff of more than 20 and a regular base at a five-star resort.