EXTRA SPECIAL
But Eddie fumes after England grab final glory
EDDIE JONES rounded on his ‘disrespectful’ critics after England scraped an extra-time victory over France’s second team to land the Autumn nations Cup.
Pockets of the 2,000-strong Twickenham crowd jeered at the relentless kicking tactics that have been a theme of England’s campaign.
It took a sudden-death penalty by captain Owen Farrell in the 95th minute during extra time to secure victory. Asked if England could be more entertaining, Jones hit back: ‘Look, the game is tough at the moment. It goes through cycles of being tough. Don’t get so worried about it. Haven’t you seen rugby go through these cycles before? I find it all a bit childish, all this talk. I’m sorry.
‘Obviously, you have to win. If we don’t win, we don’t coach. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that, so let’s be
quite blunt about that. In terms of the rugby — do you think we go out there and don’t want to play good rugby? Are you seriously asking me that question?
‘Sometimes you can’t play good rugby, so I apologise. I am not as good a coach as you and all your mates. I apologise.’
Pressed on whether No 10 George Ford was under strict orders to kick the ball, Jones (below) added: ‘You think I’m calling that every time he gets the ball? Don’t ask stupid questions. That’s what the game demands. Had we run the ball from everywhere and got turned over 30 times and beaten 30- 15, you’d have said, “Why didn’t we kick the ball more?” Forget it, guys.
‘Don’t try to justify your view of the game because these are the best players in the world and you’re telling me they’re playing that game because they don’t want to play good rugby? Be respectful to the players. I think you are being totally disrespectful to the players the way you criticise the rugby. Rugby needs to be positive at the moment, it is a tough time for the sport, it is a tough time to play rugby and we are all trying to play as good a rugby as we can.
‘Consider the players are coming off at least a 10-month season without having any pre-season to prepare for the international game. It has been tough for the players and I think you are being disrespectful to the players and World Rugby and should be trying to paint a much more positive picture of the sport.’
Farrell was a relieved man, saying: ‘I missed some kicks that I definitely shouldn’t have missed and made that game go on longer than it should have. There were a lot of chances to win and it was my fault we didn’t take them, but the boys kept going and we got there in the end.’
England No 8 Billy Vunipola admitted his side must become better at dealing with the ‘favourites’ tag. ‘When you are playing for England, you always have a target on your head,’ he said. ‘We love being underdogs. Everyone loves being underdogs, as you saw with France. We have to deal with being the favourites.’
Vunipola also admitted knocking on the ball in the buildup to Luke Cowan-Dickie’s late try that led to extra time — and France coach Fabien Galthie could not hide his frustration with the officials.
‘ The players honoured the France shirt,’ said Galthie. ‘The game was lost on details but also on (refereeing) decisions. It’s very frustrating.’