AND HE’S NEVER SHORT OF A SOUNDBITE...

Ahead of the first game of the 2016 Six Nations at Murrayfield ‘The advantage Scotland have is massive. They have to carry the pressure of favouritism, which is probably something they are not used to.’ England won the match 15-9. Some felt he over-stepped the mark with his words on Ireland’s Johnny Sexton, who had been struggling after a series of head knocks before the 2016 Six Nations match. ‘Sexton is an interesting one. They’ve talked about him having a whiplash injury, which is not a great thing to talk about. I am sure his mother and father would be worried about that. I would be worried about his welfare.’ Sexton kicked one penalty and one conversion in a game that Ireland lost 21-10. Ahead of England’s final 2017 Six Nations match in Ireland, he tried to give the impression he knew exactly how Joe Schmidt’s side would play. ‘It will be raining high balls and it will be kick-and-clap rugby from Ireland and their fans love it,’ said Jones. ‘We know what to expect. They have an enormous amount of psychological advantage.’ Ireland beat England 13-9 but Jones had the last laugh as his side still won the Six Nations title. That is still his only defeat as England head coach. Before the November 2017 Test match against Australia, he accused Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika of ‘playing games’ and attempting to influence 28-year-old referee Ben O’Keeffe ahead of the meeting at Twickenham. ‘Obviously Cheika feels the referees haven’t done a good job when we played Australia before, so possibly he should be taking that up with the referee and not in the media before the game,’ said Jones. ‘We play by the rules. Australia are playing games... ’ England won 30-6 in a match that left Cheika furious because of some controversial calls made by the young referee. At this year’s Six Nations launch, he called Scotland ‘the darlings of European rugby’ and asked whether they had a cutting edge in attack. ‘Scotland are big darlings, aren’t they?’ said Jones. ‘How excited do people get when the ball goes from side to side with Scotland. ‘They’ve got a great young coach and he has got them playing well. But it’s different when you are expected to win and play with that panache.’