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Eddie Jones has been at it again, doing some coaching outside of his England job
Eddie Jones has admitted he has been at it again, coaching outside the remit of his England head coach position. It was last week when the Australian fronted media to defend his extracurricular coaching following the avalanche of criticism that accompanied the revelation that he was coaching at Beauden Barrett’s Suntory Sungoliath in Japan less than a week after the RFU published its review on recent England’s fifth-place Six Nations campaign.
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Jones’ excursion to the Far East especially drew the ire of ex-England boss Clive Woodward, who claimed: “His coaching role in Japan makes English rugby look RIDICULOUS… he should be 100 per cent focused on the job and can afford absolutely zero distractions.”
When asked last week by RugbyPass for the reasons why he needed to do some additional coaching on a consultancy basis, Jones explained: “I’m a coach, I have got to practise coaching. If you are a golfer you play golf, if you’re a coach you coach and I only get twelve weeks a year to coach with England so I have got to use my time in between to practise coaching and find better ways to coach.
“For 25 years I have always practised coaching and I actually use my holidays to practise coaching because I love it, mate, and I get the opportunity to do a little bit of coaching at Suntory, I get the opportunity to work with some of the best players in the world.
“Bob Dwyer, who was the foremost influence on my coaching, always said the best players are the best coaches so find the best players, pick their brains, learn from them and that is the best way to improve your coaching. That is something I have done continually for 25 years, I go around clubs continually to try to pick people’s brains and obviously you share some information with them. That is the obvious thing, it’s information sharing. Very useful, mate.”
London Irish is home to one of the more intriguing 21 uncapped players chosen by England https://t.co/iatasd3VNs
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 10, 2021
In the wake of Jones’ defence of his extracurricular coaching outside England, Exeter boss Rob Baxter reckoned it would be very difficult for a Premiership club to allow the England coach to come in and do this type of training closer to his home rather than having to fly overseas. “As regards being on a field and coaching, it would be pretty difficult if I’m honest with you… I don’t think coaching in the Premiership would be anything like the simple answer that it seems,” suggested Baxter.
“I genuinely don’t because our plans and what we are aiming for are for club success. Yes, we want our players to have some success and play international rugby but ultimately most coaches would tell you that you want to avoid disruption throughout the year, not encourage it.”
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It was only last Thursday when Baxter outlined his scepticism regarding Jones potentially practising coaching in the Premiership, but less than a week later the Australian admitted he had been coaching at Leicester this week thanks to accommodation from Tigers boss Steve Borthwick, his former England and Japan assistant.
Asked about Leicester getting six players included in the England summer series squad, Jones volunteered: “It’s an exciting time for Leicester, an exciting time for us to pick well-coached, well-manufactured players from Leicester and Steve Borthwick is doing an outstanding job.
“Yesterday [Tuesday], I spent the day up there with him. Managed to do a little bit of coaching. I know I am not supposed to coach another team so I apologise now, I apologise for coaching another team but I was able to do a little bit of practise there and it was good. It’s great to see those young players come through.
“Leicester is such an important club for England. Historically they have been at the base of most successful England sides and they went through a difficult period. Now Steve is there, he is doing an outstanding job and bringing good young talent through. You look at the young guys that are coming out of the Tigers, (Joe) Heyes, (Dan) Kelly, (Freddie) Steward, they are all about the same age and they will have a few more in the (England) 20s.”
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Ellis Genge, George Martin and Harry Wells were the three other Leicester picks in the 34-strong England squad for next week’s five-day training camp in London. There was no place for seasoned Tigers such as half-backs George Ford and Ben Youngs, who declared himself unavailable last month to be considered for Lions tour selection.
“He is rested,” said Jones about the Ford situation. “He has got a nagging calf injury that he has carried all season and battled his way through. The best thing for him now is to have a good recovery period and then get his body ready for the next period of time.
“They [Ford and co] were very understanding. They know they have had a particularly difficult period of time and they need to rest and recuperate, they need to get their bodies back to good condition. They were all carrying an injury of some sort that they need to properly rehab, so it is a great opportunity for them.
“It’s like a 21st birthday party,” Jones continued, focusing on the dominance of fresh faces in an England squad containing 21 uncapped players. “They are all exciting and we want to see what they have got. Coming into an England camp you have to adapt quickly because it is a different situation to your club and the test is the ability to adapt quickly and then play to their strengths.
“They have all got strengths and that is why they have been selected in the squad. All 21 have got a great opportunity. We will be watching them closely in terms of the way they prepare for training, the way they train, the way they go about business with other players and it is their opportunity to put their foot forward.”
Eddie Jones has explained why Newcastle were the club that provided the biggest contingent of uncapped players in his latest England squad https://t.co/4kmMRe25d6
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 10, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments