Meddling Bath chief is Donald Trump of rugby
Jones blast as club-v-country row escalates
EDDIE JONES branded Bath owner Bruce Craig the ‘donald trump of rugby’ as the club-versus- country feud intensified yesterday.
last week was dominated by a war of words between the england head coach and Bath’s millionaire supremo over training injuries. at least 18 players have been injured in Jones’s england camps — including five Bath players — which Craig labelled ‘totally unacceptable’.
Jones hit back saying nobody should tell him how to coach the team, before Craig returned fire, calling the australian’s remarks ‘cynical’ and ‘inappropriate’.
now, arriving in durban for england’s tour of South africa and determined to have the last word, Jones has resumed the slanging match. ‘Bruce Craig sounds like the donald trump of rugby, he has the same hairstyle,’ said the coach.
‘everything we do is about training to get better. It’s not about satisfying some bloke who has plenty of money in Bath and thinks he knows everything about rugby. I find it all a bit tedious. really, I wish I knew that much.
‘If I knew that much I’d probably have as much money as him. Unfortunately I don’t, so I’ll just stick to rugby.’
the intensity of Jones’s training has been widely criticised — but the england boss would not back down as he prepares the national side to try to win their first series in South africa.
‘the players know that the training we do is for them to get better,’ he added. ‘We want to be the best team in the world and we train to get better. Bruce is absolutely obsessed by intensity — Bruce is the intensity king of the world. We train appropriately for test rugby.
‘It seems whatever Bruce says, goes. Who knows, maybe he’ll be the CEO of the RFU soon.
‘It’s not my job to speak to club owners. It’s my job to coach the national team and if he’s such an expert on training preparation, then possibly he should start coaching. I don’t really care what he says, it doesn’t affect what I do with the team.’
Jones and other members of the party arrived without their luggage, which was left in Johan- nesburg — venue for the first test — to avoid breaking the flight’s weight limit.
england have set up camp on the east coast and will travel to each test city a few days before the matches there. the second test is in Bloemfontein and the final one in Cape town.
and Jones is content by the Indian Ocean. ‘durban is one of the great places in the world,’ he said. ‘Having had the experience of being in South africa before, having a base suits us. the boys enjoy the warmth and durban is a great venue.’
ENGLAND Under 20s grabbed their second bonuspoint victory of the World rugby Championship with a 43-5 win over Italy yesterday.
two tries apiece from Marcus Smith and Ben loader were the highlights of a fine display that was marred slightly by a late red card for lock Sam lewis for an illegal tackle.