Eddie in eye of the storm
SIR CLIVE WOODWARD, DYLAN HARTLEY AND CHRIS FOY
If Annie barks at you then it’s bad so I’d take bacon to throw on the floor
IT’s a pretty open and frank conversation if you’re getting dropped. You might meet Eddie Jones for a green tea or a rooibos in the hotel bar, but more often than not it’s a chat in his office at Pennyhill Park.
His dog, Annie, a little Papillon, is usually lying around near the foot of his desk. People talk about a dog’s intuition and there’s an old wives’ theory that if Annie barks at you then it’s going to be bad news… so I’d usually take in a couple of bits of bacon and chuck them on the floor!
On a serious note, being told that you’re dropped hurts. Your pride takes a dent — and that will have been no different for Ben Youngs this week. It’s tough on him because I don’t think the France result was on his shoulders, but now it’s about how he reacts. It’s sink or swim.
He will be conscious about being a role model for the younger guys and I know Ben will support Willi Heinz the best he can.
I was dropped to the bench for my last Test against Australia in 2018. Jamie George had started the week before against Japan, but Australia were tier one opposition so it felt like a changing of the guard. That’s exactly what it was. It was a meeting on Monday when Eddie said, ‘ You’re going to come off the bench this week’. It was ‘Ok, cheers boss’, but I knew the significance of it and your ego takes a hit. Jamie had played the supporting role to me for 30 odd Tests so I had to put any personal agendas to one side and support him. It’s a different dynamic with Ben and Willi but the principle remains the same.
selection is a funny thing. Eddie handles it differently with every player. There might be a few mind games involved because everyone reacts differently. The danger of telling people too early that they are starting is they get comfortable. I’ve seen players told they are going to start and then they are sent home later in the week because they haven’t stepped it up.
Eddie knows how to motivate people. He might quietly empower one of the young guys by telling them on Monday that they are starting. someone like Lewis Ludlam might be told on a Monday: ‘You’re gonna start this week so I want you to bring the energy in training.’
The alternative is to keep people guessing. People sliding in, sliding out of postions.
You may be running in the No 2 shirt all week, then on Thursday Eddie tells you that you’re on the bench.
Generally speaking, you have a vague understanding of where you stand from your review meeting.
sometimes they last 30 seconds, sometimes it’s 30 minutes. After the game, you watch the game back on a laptop before you go to bed. You’ve reviewed your stats because the analysts put them on a hard drive in the computer room and everything’s printed out in the team room.
By the time you have your meeting with Eddie, you’ve got all your notes on the iPad and you know if you’ve played well.
If you’ve missed three tackles in a game, when Eddie says ‘ How did you go mate?’ you already have your answer. Tell him you have already spoken to John Mitchell about doing some extra tackle stuff. Guys in a professional environment are self-critical and Eddie wants that.
On Tuesday or Wednesday people go home and you are left with 25 players. Then it becomes more obvious who is playing.
You train in bibs through the week but there were times when I wore a subs’ vest all week and then started. Another time he laid the bibs out, one to 23, and said go and stand next to where you think you are.
Everyone stood at a bib and Eddie said, ‘Right, that’s the team’. He’d probably had oneon-one conversations with some, but not me. I just backed myself and made sure I got to the No 2 before Jamie George did!
Whatever the outcome, you just have to get on with your job — and that’s exactly what Ben Youngs will do.