Lack of respect could leave ‘big man’ Eddie down in the
The Australian was given a non-slip bath mat by mickey-taking defence coach Paul Gustard – having taken a tumble and smashed his face in a shower last week.
But the tongue-lashing he received on his 57th birthday from Scottish great Jim Telfer had the potential to sting even more than his black eye and swollen face.
Telfer likened Jones to US President Donald Trump in an unflattering comparison before attacking his mind games, then turned his guns on England supporters.
“The way Eddie Jones speaks, it’s a bit like Donald Trump,” said the former Lions coach. “He wants to be the big man, you know?
“His goal is to win the World Cup in 2019 and so far it’s gone well, but I think he could be a little more circumspect, show a bit more respect for the opposition.
“He doesn’t seem to show much respect and it could come back to bite him.”
Telfer (below) referred to England’s Grand Slam-winning campaign of a year ago when Jones unashamedly got stuck into Scotland, Italy and Ireland. And he was not finished.
“If you ever think about wanting separation from England just sit 10 minutes in Twickenham and listen to them,” he told BBC Sport.
“They think they’re superior and a lot of them will come from the south-east, bags of money and bags of this and bags of that.
“They don’t really appreciate the other team. In France and Argentina they boo the other team, in England it’s just disdain, ‘Why are we playing these plebs?’
“The whole atmosphere is intimidating. I don’t like Twickenham; a concrete jungle, nothing attractive about it at all.”
Jones will privately welcome this attack as it cannot fail to sharpen his squad ahead of what they hope is a record-breaking 15th consecutive Red Rose win.
“There’s a fair bit of hatred towards England isn’t there, you really feel it,” conceded Jones, after learning Joe Marler and James Haskell had both been passed fit for selection.
“It’s small brother versus big brother and it’s something the other countries use to their advantage. We’re the biggest country in the UK, we have advantages over the other countries and they know that. It makes it easy for them to have a siege mentality.
“But a siege mentality only works in certain situations and doesn’t take you on to the world stage.
“The Six Nations is a very important tournament, but we’re aiming to be the No.1 team in the world and that requires a growth mentality.”