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Eddie Jones hasn't taken long to aim remarks at France

By Ian Cameron
Head coach of England Eddie Jones looks on head coach of France Fabien Galthie (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

England head coach Eddie Jones hasn’t taken long to start the mindgames with France and is already attempting to heap the pressure on Fabien Galthie’s side ahead of Le Crunch in Paris.

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His side have an unlikely bounce in their step despite a record loss to Ireland in Twickenham. England – who spent nearly the entire match with 14 players – put in a defiant performance against the Irish, even if they were eventually overrun by Andy Farrell’s men.

If England lose to France in Saint-Denis, they could potentially finish fifth in the table again, a placing Jones’ admits would be unacceptable and which triggered an RFU review into his performance in 2021.

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Freddie Burns and Ollie Lawrence join the podcast! | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 24

With Max unavailable this week, Freddie Burns steps into the breach to join Ryan and special guest Ollie Lawrence. Freddie gives us his take on Leicester’s strong start to the season and what makes him the ultimate stand-in superstar. Ollie talks us through his relationship with Eddie Jones and how his career could easily have taken a different turn. We get the guys’ best MLR impressions and Freddie asks the question every rugby player poses when watching football.

The outspoken Australian has now turned his attention to Les Bleus, turning up the pressure notch by claiming the Grand Slam will ‘be in their heads’ this weekend.

“Wales lost the kicking in the first 20 and to beat France you have to out-kick them. That’s the first thing.

“Then you have to out-fight them around the ruck, which Wales did.”

“Wales are a really hard, tough team and we have to replicate them at the ruck and keep [scrumhalf] Antoine Dupont quiet,” said Jones. “For them to be playing for the Grand Slam, I remember going there in 2016 going for the Grand Slam and because it’s such a huge thing in European rugby, it does become something in their head,” the Australian said.

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“And the only way we can make that live in their head a bit more is to play with such intensity and such ferociousness that we put them on the back foot. I think we’ve seen it in a few games.

“Look, France are a good team, don’t get me wrong. But like any team – even the great All Black teams winning at 90 percent, on your day if you can get stuck into them physically, take away their strengths, you can cause them problems.”

Jones claims that his England side dominated both Scotland and Ireland, despite the loss on the scoreboard.

“I think we’ve taken massive steps forward in this Six Nations. We dominated the game against Scotland but got beaten,” he said of a narrow 20-17 defeat at Murrayfield.

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“We’ve dominated this game with 14 men, at times, and got beaten. And then we’ve had two good wins against Wales and Italy and we’ll have a good win against France.”

“Obviously our aim was to win the Championship. We’re disappointed we haven’t won the Championship but sometimes circumstances mean that maybe the results don’t mimic the performance. But that certainly catches up — the results will catch up.”

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Adrian 1 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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T
Trevor 4 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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