Eddie Jones’ weirdest and most memorable calls
Eddie Jones #EddieJones
The signs were there from the start that the Eddie Jones era would be broadcast in full colour and never lack for entertainment. Jones had barely managed to get his feet under the table at the Stormers in Cape Town, joining the South African franchise after guiding Japan to historic Rugby World Cup campaign in 2015 including that win over the Springboks, before he was back on the plane and arriving at Twickenham.
Mistaken references to ‘Table Top Mountain’ seemed to accidentally rub further salt in the wound that Jones would not be spending the next few years in the delightful Western Cape, tasked instead with trying to turn England into a force again after their humiliating World Cup group stage exit on home soil.
“I’ll fly back to Tokyo, say hello to my wife and tell her to pack her overcoat,” Jones said at his opening press conference with a chuckle.
Making light of serious situations with a dollop of hyperbole has been a consistent trait, with Jones asked in the wake of a desperate time for the former England captain Chris Robshaw how he would rouse the Harlequin’s spirits.
“He’s got a nice cafe in Winchester. Fantastic coffee. Best coffee in England. I might grab him for a coffee down there.”
Some comments and selection decisions during his tenure went down well. Others certainly did not. Join us for a trip down memory lane.
‘There are no world-class players here’ – December 2015
Well not at the moment, but we will in four years.” Jones certainly made sure the players stood when he arrived. England in his eyes had talented players.
But no one who would crack a World XV, which, when you look back on his first squad, all looks fair.
Looking back on Jones’ first squad from that 2016 Six Nations and there are players who have flirted with that status at their peak: Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes, Billy Vunipola, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson.
Seven years on, how many world-class players do England have now? After the most recent autumn, arguably only Freddie Steward with maybe Itoje and Tom Curry.
‘I’d just be worried about his welfare’ – February 2016
If he’s had whiplash injuries, I’m sure his mother and father would be worried about that. If you’re saying a guy has got whiplash then he’s had a severe trauma and you have to worry about the welfare of the player.’
The first real controversy. Ireland announced after a 10-9 loss to France that Sexton had suffered “whiplash”, something which Jones picked up on in his press conference ahead of England’s game against Ireland at Twickenham implying that Sexton shouldn’t be playing.
Sexton wasn’t impressed – “It can be pretty frustrating when people are diagnosing you that have absolutely no idea what is going on behind the scenes” – with England going on to win 21-10.
Building up to England’s game against Wales in Cardiff the following week, Jones announced that he was imposing a media ban… on himself.
“I’m not going to tell you, mate. From this press conference onwards I’m putting a media ban on myself because I don’t want to do any scaremongering. I don’t want to do anything that offends the media or offends people’s parents. So from here until the Friday before the Wales game I’m not talking to the media.
“If I don’t say anything, then you come away from the press conference and say it’s boring. If I say something, then I’m scaremongering. I can’t win. So the easiest way is I don’t come to press conferences…I don’t regret anything. Why would I regret it? Ireland said that he had whiplash injuries, not me. Let’s get factual about this.”
Despite that backtrack, Jones later admitted at the end of the year that he would apologise to Sexton for his comments when the time was right.
“At the right time I will. I haven’t yet but at the right time I will. Because he is a brilliant player. I love him as a player.”
Hooking Burrell – June 2016
Jones hadn’t been afraid to make early changes in the second half during England’s run to the Grand Slam, with Ben Youngs replacing a try-scoring Danny Care after only 43 minutes in Paris as England secured a clean sweep in the Six Nations since 2003.
Cut to the first Test in Australia that summer though and England were in a hole having conceded two early tries, when Jones made the decision on 28 minutes to take off centre Luther Burrell and reverted to two playmakers with George Ford and Owen Farrell on the park.
Burrell would later tell Telegraph Sport about Jones’ decision: “That had a long-lasting effect on me like people will never, ever understand.” He never played for England again
“If you want to watch rugby like that, good luck to you. I don’t want to be involved in those sort of games. I’d rather go home, pick up my stumps, put them in the kit bag and go home. If you think that’s smart, fantastic. I don’t think it’s smart rugby. In football they say park the bus. I don’t know what they had, but it was bigger than a bus.”
“Remember Trevor Chappell? Bowled underarm along the ground. We saw a Trevor Chappell game of rugby today. Couldn’t hit the ball for six. We still haven’t played a game. We haven’t played rugby yet. Congratulations to Italy. I thought they were brilliant in the execution, but if that’s rugby, I’m going to retire. That’s not rugby. If you paid for your ticket, ask for your money back.February 2017
You no doubt remember it well for Romain Poite’s “I’m the referee, not your coach” chat to a perplexed James Haskell and Dylan Hartley.
Italy refused to engage at any rucks, meaning they could sneak around the back of each breakdown to poach the ball because there were no offside lines. England were stumped (they did go on to win 36-15) and Jones, as you can tell above, was not happy.
Such was the furore that World Rugby in the summer ended up tweaking the law to clarify when the offside line was created at each ruck.
The one-cappers – July 2017
With his top England players away on the British and Irish Lions tour in New Zealand – 17 of Jones’ players were called up overall – it was a chance for the England head coach to cast the new on a tour of Argentina.
Jack Maunder, the Exeter Chiefs scrum-half, was one such player to be given a go and was never picked by England again, which makes this feel like a good time to revisit the players selected by Jones who picked up a cap but were never seen again, some down to injury but most largely due to selection.
Ollie Thorley, Josh McNally, Harry Wells, Tommy Taylor, Ben Curry, Jacob Umaga, Trevor Davison, Dan Kelly, George Martin and Will Joseph are the others yet to be used by England again.
‘He’s a young guy, and their third-choice 10’ – February 2018
“He will have to find guys around him to help because he’ll be under some heat. I’d imagine that when Alun Wyn Jones and the guys go down for breakfast on Saturday morning, they’ll be looking at him thinking: can this kid handle the pressure today? It’s a big ask … one hell of an experience for the kid. I hope he has the bottle on Saturday.”
The Sexton comments were one thing but Jones turned the heat right up on Rhys Patchell, the Wales fly-half, ahead of the fixture in the 2018 Six Nations when Jones tried to get inside his head.
Patchell then had to take over the goalkicking duties after Leigh Halfpenny dropped out and produced a mixed performance in a 12-6 win for England. Asked afterwards what he made of Patchell’s performance, Jones refused to answer. “I don’t coach him, mate. Ask Warren [Gatland],” Jones said.
‘Dirty’ Murrayfield abuse – February 2018
Not a moment of course where Jones was at fault, but after the England head coach was verbally and physically abused by Scottish supporters while travelling from Edinburgh to Manchester following England’s 25-13 defeat at Murrayfield, he vowed to never travel on public transport again.
“We’ve played 23 Tests and we’ve only lost one Test to the scummy Irish. I’m still dirty about that game but we’ll get that back, don’t worry”
‘Wales. Who knows Wales, it’s this little s— place’ – March 2018
“That has got three million people. Three million! Looking back, the 2018 Six Nations really was a lively old time for Eddie. England ended up finishing fifth after two wins and the tournament was viewed as a disaster.
But Jones was also doing the rounds apologising after a video of him speaking at a dinner event was leaked to the media, in which he described Ireland as “scummy” – while lamenting the fact that England had lost 13-9 in Dublin to miss out on a Grand Slam in 2017 – and went on to describe Wales as “this little s*** place”.
Jones later apologised in a statement. “I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused. No excuses and I shouldn’t have said what I did. I am very sorry.”
The Lozowski treatment – November 2018
As coined by Charles Richardson on the Telegraph Rugby Podcast this autumn, Alex Lozowski was another player selected by Jones who was substituted early – in his case at half-time – and never seen again in an England shirt.
The Saracens playmaker has gone on to have an excellent club career, but was replaced at half-time of England’s win over Japan with the side struggling. The impact of that move still resonated ahead of England’s game against Japan this autumn, with players referencing how they had to perform in the build-up.
“I think someone is going to BBQ part of his nose. I think someone found a little bit.”
“The ‘Kamikaze Kids’ rip and tear, with no concern for their bodies, and lead the way in our defensive efforts.”
“I didn’t drop him, I changed his role, and he was brilliant. Maybe you guys need to start reporting differently. Rugby has changed.
It was safe to say that Jones enjoyed being back in Japan with the England squad and there were no lack of one-liners, from suggesting that the missing chunk of Owen Farrell’s schnoz might end up being cooked in someone’s food to billing his twin dynamo flankers, Sam Underhill and Tom Curry, as the ‘Kamikaze Kids’.
There were some chirps as well, including before the Rugby World Cup semi-final when Jones explained why George Ford had come back into the starting line-up against New Zealand for the semi-final having been on the bench for the quarter-final win over Australia. For “modern rugby” read the usage of “finishers”, a Jonesism which has persisted to such an extent that even Gareth Southgate, the England football manager, referenced it recently.
World Cup final selections – November 2019
South Africa’s scrum is an imposing monster – the England front row who faced the Springboks at Twickenham at the end of November will testify to that – and Jones has since admitted that ahead of the World Cup final three years ago he made a mistake with the selection of Mako Vunipola as the starter at loosehead over Joe Marler, with South Africa dominating that set-piece battle partly as well due to Kyle Sinckler’s early departure.
The admission came in Jones’ autobiography – ‘My Life and Rugby’ – with the head coach adding that he should have gone back to the midfield of Owen Farrell-Manu Tuilagi-Henry Slade which England used against Australia. Jones’ honesty over both calls can be admired but they turned out to be seismic decisions, although who knows if any England side could have coped with South Africa’s power that day. Realistically, perhaps not.
The Maro Itoje walkback – 2019-2021
Jones’ book threw up another interesting debate when it came to Maro Itoje. One of England’s best talents over the past decade and a starter on multiple tours for the British and Irish Lions, Itoje was marked out early as a future England captain but is yet to lead the side. Jones, in his book, gave this thoughts on why that was the case.
“I might be wrong, but I am not sure Maro is a future England captain. He is going to be one of the great players, but Maro is very inward looking,” Jones said at the time.
By the end of 2021, however, Jones had changed his tune.
“I’ve never seen a guy mature as much as he has in the last six months so it’s been a really good period for him,” Jones said.
“I’m going to contradict myself – and contradictions a big part of life – but I’ve got no doubt in the future he will captain England. Whether that’s in my time or someone else’s time.”
Itoje, at the time of writing, is still yet to captain England.
“It’s all formal coaching, in a formal setting, in public schools. You are going to have to blow the whole thing up at some stage, change it because you are not getting enough skilful players through.”
Another situation where Jones’ comments had to be addressed publicly by the Rugby Football Union, with Jones suggesting that the independent schools system needed to be “blown up” for England to start producing the right players in an interview with the i newspaper, despite the bulk of England’s squad having been educated at such schools.
The RFU, conscious no doubt of the majority of the clientele at Twickenham, swiftly rejected Jones’ comments.
“RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, spoke to the England head coach, Eddie Jones, on Sunday and confirmed the RFU’s position on the valued role the independent sector plays in the player pathway,” an RFU statement read. “The RFU is hugely appreciative and supportive of the role both the independent and state school sectors play in introducing boys and girls to our sport and in our player pathway.”
Danny Care hooked – July 2022
Just as he had felt the need to remove Luther Burrell six years earlier with England struggling in Australia, Jones pulled the same move again by replacing Care at scrum-half with Jack van Poortvliet in the first half after 36 minutes in Sydney.
Care was selected on the tour after a four-year absence with Ben Youngs remaining at home, and he started in the first Test before being a replacement in the second. England went on to win the third Test and the series with Van Poortvliet on the field and Care has not been picked by England since, although Jones hinted the door was not entirely closed in September, explaining that he would take one of Youngs or Care to the World Cup.
‘A traitor’ – July 2022
Following the same series decider in Sydney, Jones was verbally abused as he left the field at the Sydney Cricket Ground by an Australian supporter who called Jones “a traitor”, after being egged on to “spray him” by whoever was filming the incident.
Jones, not shy of engaging, responded with: “What did you say? What did you say? Come here and say it. Come here and say it. Come here and say it.”
Rugby Australia condemned the behaviour of the supporter as “totally unacceptable”.
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