Eddie Jones revealed player cull in brutal breakfast meeting - Charlie Ewels
Charlie Ewels has revealed that Eddie Jones warned his England players a cull was coming at a brutal breakfast meeting in Dublin last year.
Ireland visit Twickenham on Saturday when the rivals will battle to take their Guinness Six Nations title bid into the final round knowing that the losing side will be eliminated from contention.
The clash will unfold a year after England were crushed 32-18 at the Aviva Stadium, bringing with it a chastening fifth-place finish.
It was a moment that Jones has subsequently described as a “line in the sand” and although the Rugby Football Union had yet to conduct its review into the worst performance in its Six Nations history, Jones was already planning to sweep away elements of the old guard.
“We all got a pretty strong inkling there would be a reset first thing in the morning when he told us that in a meeting,” Ewels said.
“He literally said ‘that’s not good enough, you have got to make a decision. This is where this team is going, it’s up to me to decide who is here and it is up to you to decide to be here’.
“He didn’t make a secret of it – he obviously saw something and that is what he decided to do.
“His challenge to the players was that we need to improve, the group needs to improve and therefore the individuals need to improve. So go away and make me pick you.”
George Ford and the Vunipola brothers were the biggest victims of Jones’ new vision for England’s future, while Jamie George and Elliot Daly have been given reprieves on account of injury and form.
“I left the meeting going ‘fair enough, that isn’t the team we want to be. That isn’t how we want to perform and this isn’t where we want to finish in a Six Nations’,” Ewels said.
Ewels started the Ireland collapse alongside Maro Itoje and the old England age-grade team-mates were reunited in the second row for the round three victory over Wales.
Ewels recently posted on social media a photo of the pair together after an under-18 match a decade ago and the Bath captain insists they still share an empathetic partnership.
“I was in Maro’s shadow back then – and I still am now! He played the same way that he plays now – big, abrasive, a ball-carrier, getting stuck in. He’s just a heightened version of what he was back then,” Ewels said.
“In the moment in games we have a greater understanding of each other and of our strengths and weaknesses.
“Maro would probably say that his weakness is if he’s over-aroused, then he has a tendency to force things. I know that in him, I see that in him.
“I’m not going to pull him to the side, put my arm round him, but maybe there’s one brief word or moment in a break in play when we’re back together at scrums or before line-outs we’ll be talking.
“On the flip-side of that he’s one of the best players in the world at being in every play, competing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments