Eddie Jones warns Scotland to expect a hostile reception at Twickenham
Eddie Jones has warned Scotland to expect “hostility” in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup tie as England seek revenge for last year’s humiliation on and off the pitch at Murrayfield last year.
After Saturday’s thumping 57-14 win over Italy, England will clinch the Six Nations title if they beat Scotland and Wales lose to Ireland but Jones was more bothered about exacting revenge after last year’s ill-tempered defeat began a run of five straight Test losses.
Before kick-off a fracas broke out in the tunnel with Owen Farrell confronting Scotland’s Ryan Wilson, who was said to have made threatening comments to George Ford, while Jones was subjected to taunts from home supporters during the game, and the ill feeling is believed to have continued at the post-match function.
The following day Jones was verbally abused by a group of Scotland supporters at a Manchester railway station and afterwards he suggested comments made in the buildup to the match, including those from Gavin Hastings saying opposing supporters wanted to “rub [Jones’s] face in the dirt”, had not helped.
Last Saturday, Jones paired Manu Tuilagi and Ben Te’o in midfield, with Joe Cokanasiga on the wing, as his side blitzed Italy with eight tries. Asked what sort of welcome he wants Scotland to receive at Twickenham, where they have not beaten England since 1983, Jones said: “A pretty physical one.
“[At Twickenham] you don’t get people telling you where to go, you don’t get people spitting on you, you don’t get people grabbing you round the head and telling you what you should do, so we’ll make sure the hostility is on the field. Every game against Scotland has extra on it, I think they have a healthy dislike of the English and we would certainly like to reciprocate the welcome we got up there last year. All I’ll say is that we’ll be ready for them.”
Jones brushed off the incident that occurred in Manchester – which resulted in three people being fined at a magistrates’ court – but the England centre Te’o added: “That was disappointing but I don’t think that represents Scotland rugby, Scotland people, Scotland fans. I know a few of them and they are all good people. It is not nice to see that type of stuff with little old Eddie and I am pretty sure if there had been some boys around there they would have been flying in. Lucky there wasn’t.”
Jones, meanwhile, has urged the Six Nations organisers to consider introducing promotion and relegation after England condemned Italy to a 21st consecutive championship defeat and 14th wooden spoon in 20 seasons. Representatives of all tier one nations – as well as Japan and Fiji – will meet in Dublin this week at an emergency meeting called by World Rugby to discuss further the governing body’s proposed Nations Championship, which includes a relegation playoff between the bottom side of Six Nations and the winners of Europe’s second tier.
Georgia – currently above Italy in the world rankings – would be in the box seat, having on Sunday won the second-tier competition for the eighth time in the last nine years and Jones invited them to train with England in the second fallow week of the Six Nations for the second year running.
Italy did beat Georgia when the two sides met in November, and their coach, Conor O’Shea, gave his backing to the Nations Championship last week, but whether World Rugby’s proposal materialises remains to be seen amid opposition from the Six Nations board, a degree of scepticism from the Rugby Football Union and the threat of legal action from clubs in England and France.
But Jones told the BBC: “I think they should always consider rewarding merit, it doesn’t matter what competition you’re in.
“The organisers talk about the Six Nations being the best rugby competition in the world and it probably is close to it, but to improve it you’ve got to find a way of making sure you’ve got the six best teams in Europe always playing in it. If that involves relegation, then it’s something that should be looked at very closely.”