DON’T UPSET MY MUM
Eddie must stop Slam to avoid flak
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ENGLAND coach Eddie Jones will try to avoid trains and defeats from now on – to stop his mum getting upset.
The Aussie has had a tough couple of weeks as his England side crashed to defeat against Scotland and France to destroy their hopes of a third Six Nations title running.
He also had to put up with a torrent of abuse from drunken Scotland fans when he travelled by train from Edinburgh to Manchester.
He is now hoping his side can deflect the flak by beating new champions Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday and stop them winning the Grand Slam.
Bless
“It affects different people individually, some people get upset by it, some people carry it around,” Jones said.
“Some people’s mothers ring them up, some people’s wives ring them up. My mother rings me up – God bless her soul. My mother said, ‘What’s going on?’.
“She hasn’t got a great knowledge of rugby. She just gets upset. I don’t get upset really.
“Every good team goes through this period. It’s actually an essential part of developing a great team.
“The learnings we’ll get from this, albeit very painful, are crucial going forward because it’s about how we respond. It’s not as if we can’t play rugby, we know we’ve got good players as they’ve played for the Lions and won games for England.”
Jones tries to ignore his critics but might find it hard to avoid the clamour to call up Exeter back row Don Armand, along with team-mate Sam Simmonds, after losing Billy Vunipola, Nathan Hughes, Courtney Lawes and Zach Mercer to injury.
Flying back and specialist kicker Elliot Daly was also sent for a scan on a foot injury yesterday and could miss the Ireland clash but skipper Dylan Hartley is back in training after missing the France match.
Jones is not likely to ease up on the England training workload, with one unnamed Premiership director of rugby saying his players were “flogged”.
England lost four players to training injuries ahead of the France defeat, including Hartley, but Jones shot down suggestions England did not look as sharp as the Scotland and France teams.
He said: “We were sparky for the first 20 in Paris, got lost in middle 40 and dominated the last 20.” ENGLAND forward Maro Itoje claims he was bitten on the arm by home flanker Yacouba Camara during the defeat in Paris and England have reported the alleged incident to citing commissioner Murray Whyte.