Eddie really doesn’t need to be topping up his huge salary

EDDIE Jones tipped a frying pan of egg over his face this week after comments made at a seminar for truck manufacturer Fuso in Japan last July went viral. In it the England coach talks about his one loss (at that point) to the “scummy” Irish, and refers to Wales as “this little sh*t place” that produced a side that beat their Japan U20 rivals 125-0.

The remarks were unacceptable, and, because there was a derogatory element from a national coach in a public forum they crossed the line, full stop.

However, as an unintentional click-bait exercise it was a resounding success, with some Irish and Welsh commentators taking reasoned umbrage, the troll contingent frothing at the mouth, and others shrugging it off as low rent banter.

Given that the human condition is beset by all sorts of frailties, at least Jones’ comments deserve to be put in context. If a stand-up comedian had come up with those lines he would probably have been frogmarched off the stage for not being very witty, but when it comes to inciting race hate it would hardly have been classed as incendiary.

Ill-advised and bigoted, yes, racist no. Having been raised as a half-Japanese kid in a poor Sydney suburb Jones has almost certainly been on the receiving end of racism more than most, and knows how corrosive it is. It is also worth pointing out that the comments took place in an atmosphere in which the tone was more one of dressing-room banter than highbrow philosophy, and the context was of misjudgement on the England coach’s part rather than malice.

We should be careful, also of double standards all-round. It is only a matter of weeks ago that Scotland’s Kiwi prop, Simon Berghan, was peddling the line about ‘hating’ the English.

Berghan said: “I sort of knew everyone hates England, basically because we did (in NZ), but when I came over here (to Scotland) it was made more obvious to me…”

In the interests of perspective it’s fair to point out that hatred is a far more divisive term than either “scummy” or “sh*t place”, yet there was no instant apology from the SRU of the sort sent out by the RFU to their Irish and Welsh counterparts.

By the same token Jones should have been severely embarrassed in the light of his high-ground comments after he had been accosted by a group of drunken Scottish yobs the morning after England’s Calcutta Cup defeat.

He chided both Berghan and former Scotland captain, Gavin Hastings, for making potentially divisive comments. “It magnifies that if you are in a position of responsibility you’ve got to be careful what you say. Because, if you talk about hate and you talk about ‘rubbing people’s noses in the dirt’, and all those sorts of things, it incites certain behaviours – and are they the sort of behaviours that we want to see?”

What was surprising was that the England coach felt it necessary to speak at a seminar last summer rather than attending to his mission statement of turning England into the best team in the world.

With an annual RFU salary at the time of upwards of £500,000 – which has since risen to £750,000 following his contract extension in January – Jones should not require ancillary engagements to top up his earnings.

There are also strong indications that the timing of the video release in the week before England’s showdown with Ireland was hardly coincidental. The speaker Jones shared the stage with at the Fuso seminar was a former British Special Forces operative who has Irish family connections – and who encourages ‘no holds barred’ Q&A sessions.

However, while that might shed some light on the banter Jones employed in an attempt to be entertaining, there are signs that some influential figures in the English game are unimpressed. Foremost among them is his old sparring partner, Sir Clive Woodward.

Woodward’s 2003 World Cup winners were faced by a non-stop Aussie media barrage during the tournament which was encouraged by Jones, who was coaching the Wallabies.

England were instantly cast as ‘Dad’s Army’, with their credentials challenged daily everywhere from the pitch to the bedroom, with the suggestion that they were short of a gallop whatever the department. After their first big pool game against South Africa, which England won comfortably, the front page of one newspaper was emblazoned with a photo of Jonny Wilkinson kicking a penalty, accompanied by the block headline, “Is That All You’ve Got?”

Woodward, a strong supporter of Jones over the last two years, shifted tack this week saying that pressure was building on Jones due to bad selections, clumsy comments and poor decisions. He argued Jones should concentrate on the basics to get England back on track.

Woodward added that is time for Jones to buckle down and dispense with his media high-profile in favour of building a team to win the World Cup.

It is good advice. At the moment there appear to be too many unnecessary distractions. Fast Eddie should slow down and get down to rugby business.

“With an RFU salary which has risen to £750,000, Jones should not require ancillary engagements to top up his earnings”