Eddie: Mum, 93, told me off for swearing!
But no apology for grim England show
EDDie JoNeS found himself in the unusual position of delivering a public apology yesterday — not for england’s performance against Argentina, but for his swearing, which apparently led to a telling-off from his mum.
england’s head coach was caught on camera at twickenham on Saturday saying: ‘F***. how f***ing stupid are we?’ as his team struggled to close out a 21-8 win against the Pumas. Back home in Australia, Nellie was not impressed.
‘i’d like to apologise for swearing in public,’ said Jones ‘i got in trouble with my mother. She’s 93 and she rang up from Australia to rap me over the knuckles and say, “Please don’t swear”. i am in the doghouse and certainly won’t do it again. i’ll find a different way to express my frustration in future.’
While Jones was sorry for his language, he certainly was not sorry about the manner of his side’s victory, emphasising the need for substance over style.
‘We won the game and i was pleased with the way we won it,’ he said. ‘i don’t mind winning dirty and to me, rugby is a game that can be played beautifully badly or beautifully well. We’re disappointed with how we played, but those things happen.
‘to win the World Cup you’ve got to win seven games in a row — and history shows that for one of those games, you can’t be at your very best. that’s when it’s so important to find a way to win and that’s what we did on Saturday.
‘in 2007 with South Africa, we could have got beaten by tonga, could have got beaten by Fiji — played terrible in both games, but we found a way to win. that’s how you win a World Cup and that’s what we want to do.’
Scrum-half Danny Care said: ‘We hope to get the crowd going, but we’re not there to entertain. We’re there to get the job done and win matches. the fans obviously want to see us score a load of tries, but i’m sure they’d prefer us to win than lose.’
Jones is staunchly supportive of his players and added: ‘i obviously didn’t coach the team well enough. it’s my fault the team didn’t play well.’
his comments were designed to take the heat off his squad — not that the criticism has been overwhelming, given the result. Care said: ‘We are looking at ourselves and what we can do better. i will not tell a coach how to coach because i have no idea. As players we can be a lot better.’
Jones began the build-up to Saturday’s showdown with Australia by praising the resurgent Wallabies. he said: ‘their selection’s been good, their defence is very good. their set- piece is strong. they’re playing some good rugby and they’re probably the form team in the world.’
owen Farrell and Maro itoje are in line for a recall, with Jones saying: ‘they want to play and they think they’re ready to play.’
Full back Mike Brown is unlikely to play as he recovers from another blow to the head but wing Jonny May is primed for a return to the starting XV.