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Brian O'Driscoll accuses Eddie Jones of 'scaremongering'

By Online Editors
Eddie Jones and Brian O'Driscoll

Brian O’Driscoll has accused Eddie Jones of “scaremongering” and admitted he relished the sight of the England head coach’s comments backfiring so spectacularly in France earlier this month.

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Jones was widely ridiculed after his threat to face the French with “absolute brutality” was met with a below-par 24-17 defeat in Paris in the opening game of this year’s Six Nations.

Heading into this weekend’s clash against Ireland at Twickenham, O’Driscoll referenced Jones’ barb at Jonny Sexton’s parents four years ago as an example of the England coach’s habit of going too far.

Former Ireland centre O’Driscoll said: “Eddie says some things that overstep the mark sometimes. He said something about Johnny Sexton and brought his mum and dad into it four years ago and that’s not benefiting or building the game – that’s scaremongering.

“We don’t want that – we’re trying to help the product, not hinder it. Sometimes he gets it wrong. I think the stuff about brutality is harmless enough – particularly when you get your backside handed to you after the game so we can all have a good chuckle about it.

(Continue reading below…)

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“There are many different sides to Eddie. He very much thinks about what he is saying and is quite calculated. There are certain things that are close to the edge.”

Speaking at the Laureus Sports Awards in Berlin, O’Driscoll recalled the time during his illustrious career when he was accused of taking a step too far in kindling another pre-match controversy.

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As detailed in his autobiography, O’Driscoll earned a stinging rebuke from the then England coach Clive Woodward after deriding Twickenham’s “prawn sandwich brigade”.

And O’Driscoll could not resist another sly dig in the direction of Twickenham’s corporate reputation ahead of a fixture which is expected to go a long way to deciding the destiny of this year’s title.

O’Driscoll added: “Of course there is huge corporate in all of rugby these days and that is the reality. “In the Premiership, there are question marks about the atmosphere because true fans are getting an opportunity to go to games and roar on their teams, and it’s no different at Twickenham.

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“It is what it is – you’ll have fans in their Range Rovers in the West Car Park. If that’s their thing, brilliant – it’s part of the history of the Six Nations.

“As a player, you look over enviously thinking: ‘There they are, enjoying their champagne and canapes, and here we are, butterflies and stomachs rumbling, and we’ve got to go out and play a game’.”

– Press Association

WATCH: Andy Farrell and Johnny Sexton reflect on Ireland’s win over Wales

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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