Jones reassured by club that country is ‘pinnacle’ and will always come first
EDDIE JONES has been told by Saracens that he has no reason to fear England’s Six Nations campaign being wrecked by the withdrawal of their players.
Two days after accepting a 35-point deduction and a fine of £5.36million for breaching the salary cap, the Premiership champions held clear-the-air talks with their playing squad.
Team boss Mark McCall assured the players that withdrawing them from England duty in order to bolster Saracens’ relegation fight would not happen.
Sarries have plunged to the foot of the table, 26 points adrift, and five of their remaining 18 league games clash with the Six Nations.
But McCall (right) said: “To be clear, I support our players playing for England
100 per cent. I genuinely want them to. It’s the absolute pinnacle of the game.” Saracens supplied six of the team that started the World Cup final and Jones believes the club’s plight could have a “significant impact” on England’s campaign.
“I’m not sure why Eddie said that to be honest,” said McCall. “That’s something I would would never ask one of our players to do. Playing international rugby is really important.”
Saracens provide the spine of the England team, from Elliot Daly at full-back to captain Owen Farrell and forwards Jamie George, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and the Vunipola brothers. “Wanting to play in the Six Nations doesn’t mean you’re not committed to the club,” said McCall. “All of
LFABristol 4 3 0 1 96 65 Northampton 4 3 0 1 115 85 Sale 4 2 0 2 95 59 Gloucester 4 2 0 2 68 62 Exeter 4 2 0 2 73 72 London Irish 4 2 0 2 85 94 Worcester 4 2 0 2 79 89 Bath 4 2 0 2 73 96 Harlequins 4 1 0 3 77 98 Wasps 4 1 0 3 83 104 Leicester 4 1 0 3 53 97 *Saracens 4 3 0 1 86 62 * Saracens deducted 35 points these guys are 100 per cent committed but playing for your country is playing for your country and I would support that every time.”
Saracens insist the club has now drawn a line under the episode.
“We are going to concentrate on the rugby, which is what we are paid to do,” McCall said. “Get back to what we do well.”
That may be wishful thinking as everyone has an opinion on the scandal, but he knows words will not make up the lost ground. Only deeds will.
“What this week’s decision does is make things very clear what our position is in the table and what needs to be done,” said McCall. “There is nothing overhanging, no doubt about what is required.
“We definitely believe we can stay up but it is easy to get our approach wrong and go into games with anxiety and become desperate. Our job is to make sure we are not counting points.” 2 2 3 2 2 2 1 0 2 1 0 1 14 14 11 10 10 10 9 8 6 5 4 -22