Mate, here’s six delicious Eddie Jones quotes ...
Target: Johnny Sexton Most coaches usually avoid winding up the opposition for fear of making life harder for their players on the field.
But Eddie Jones tends not to bother with such niceties, and ahead of England’s Six Nations match against Ireland at Twickenham in February, the master of mind games queried whether Irish pivot Johnny Sexton should be involved in the game.
And if you know Jones at all, you’d know that that query wasn’t a completely sincere one. Not sincere at all, actually.
Sexton has suffered several blows to the head in recent years and took another pounding against France in Paris earlier that month.
Jones said: “Sexton is an interesting one. They’ve talked about him having whiplash injury. I’m sure his mother and father would be worried about that. I’d be worried about his welfare if he’s had whiplash injuries. Hopefully the lad’s all right to play on Saturday.”
And after beating Ireland and ahead of England’s fixture against Wales, Jones decided on a self-imposed media ban. But the Aussie overestimated his ability to keep quiet, as his ban lasted only four days.
“From this press conference onwards I’m putting a media ban on myself,” Jones said ahead of their clash with Wales. “Because I don’t want to do any scaremongering, because I don’t want to do anything that offends the media or people’s parents (referring to Sexton). So from here until the Friday before the Wales game, I’m not talking about the media.”
Target: The Springboks Earlier this year, Jones labelled the Springboks “bullies” ahead of their meeting at Twickenham tomorrow. (I guess he was referring to the whole physical dominance thing the Boks usually aim to do?)
Jones braced his men for a physical encounter with the Boks, against whom England have their poorest record of all opponents in the past decade. They have not won since the 25-14 victory at Twickenham in November 2006.
And Jones, of course, would do anything to increase their chances of getting their first win in 10 years.
“We haven’t beaten them since then and you know what they are like, they’re bullies, so that is a task for our first 23-man squad,” he said.
Tomorrow’s game should be a real dish, right?
Target: The Wallabies When Jones landed in Brisbane for England’s three-Test series against Australia in June, he claimed to have been the target of a “well-orchestrated routine” to make his trip Down Under as tough as possible.
This was after he had to have his bags checked by immigration as soon as he had stepped off the plane. Or that’s what he said; maybe he still had enough time to finish a coffee first. Who knows.
“I just went through immigration and I got shunted through the area where everything got checked. That’s what I’m expecting, mate. Everything that’s done around the game is going to be coordinated. All coordinated to help Australia win. We’ve got to be good enough to control what we can control,” he said.
And they really were in control. I mean, how else do you thump the Wallabies with a 3-0 series whitewash?
Target: Italy Ahead of their Six Nations match against Italy in Rome, Jones instructed his men to go out and “smack” the Azzurri. Which is exactly what they did – they smacked them 40-9, claiming the Calcutta Cup (or the Panini Cup, as Jones mockingly called it) for the eighth consecutive year.
“We control our own destiny,” the 56-year-old said. “We want to go out there and smack Italy. I have told the boys already that that is our aim – to go out there and give them a good hiding.”
“If you look at the rankings we are a better side than Italy. We have to prove that on Sunday. We want to be absolutely brutal up front so there is no Italian player left standing at the end of the game.” Target: The World After steering his side to a historic victory over South Africa at the World Cup last year, then-Japan coach Jones said that his team could cause further chaos by making it to the quarter-finals.
“We’ve made a splash today but we want to make a real dent in the tournament (like beating the Boks wasn’t a deep enough dent). We are not done. If we make the quarter-finals, then I can retire from coaching. I can be like Clive Woodward and tell everyone what to do on television. Tell Sir Clive I want to be like him. That’s my dream,” referring to the man who beat his Australian side with England in the 2003 World Cup final.
Jones then revealed that the Brave Blossoms had been plotting how to beat the Boks ever since the draw was made almost three years ago.
“I’ve coached for 20 years and I’ve never worked harder. I’m getting too old for this. I’m 55. I should be in Barbados watching cricket.
“The players weren’t satisfied at halftime. They wanted to win the game,” he said. Evidently so.
Target: Everyone out there Ahead of his first match in charge at Twickenham (against Ireland), Jones said that he was well aware of the hostility towards the Red Rose.
Jones had been England boss for only two games before he claimed to have already felt the “hatred” the rugby world reserves for his team.
“Sir Clive (Woodward) summed it up best when he said ‘everyone hates England. And it’s true. Because of the history that is involved, the surrounding countries with the social and historical context, that long-seated rivalry – you can feel that hatred of England,” he said.
Are Jones’ taunts arrogant? Maybe so. But his logic states that “arrogance is only bad when you lose. If you are winning and you are arrogant, it is self-belief ”. And hey, whatever works for you, works for you. One thing is for damn sure: Without Eddie Jones, reporting on rugby would be a lot less fun. Mate.