England to hold crisis talks to resolve any resentment towards Saracens players
England are to hold crisis talks to resolve any internal anger and resentment felt towards Saracens players because of the salary cap scandal.
Eddie Jones will preside over the discussions in Portugal on Thursday when his 34-man squad begins a seven-day training camp to prepare for the Guinness Six Nations opener against France on February 2.
Saracens will be automatically relegated at the end of the season for breaching salary cap regulations after opting for demotion when presented with the choice of a season in the Championship or opening up their books for a forensic audit and handing back their Premiership trophies for two of the last three campaigns.
Although none of Jones’ current squad have been critical of the double winners in public, the north London club’s repeated failure to observe the £7million limit for player wages has been a source of long-term frustration among rivals.
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Saracens supply seven of the 34 players who will travel to the Algarve, including the influential Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje and Mako Vunipola, and Jones will encourage a frank exchange of views to address any ill-will.
“We have got to debrief Saracens. We need to get everything out on the table and sort it out,” Jones said.
“Well we are not robots. You don’t know how long it is going to take. It could take longer, but we will sort it out.
“It’s common sense – say what you feel. If players are angry about it then say it, get it out on the table.
“But at the end of the day there are 34 players who all want to play for England and their job is to get ready to play for England and sort it out.
“We will help them sort it out. I don’t envisage any problems at all, in fact I think it is an opportunity for the team to get tighter.
“We have got players from potentially 12 different clubs – 12 different ideas of what is right and what is wrong.
“We are like a family around the dinner table – someone wants to have pasta for dinner and the other one wants to have rice.
“They have a debate and that is ongoing in the national team. Every national team I have coached has those problems.
“I remember coaching Japan and the Panasonic players hated the Suntory players – hated each other. So we had to sort it out. That always happens.”
Once the topic of Saracens’ ‘financial doping’ has been covered, England’s squad will reflect on a fine World Cup that ended in a 32-12 defeat by South Africa in the final.
Although less divisive than the controversy at Allianz Park, the failure to fire a shot against the Springboks a week after dismantling New Zealand could still fester in the minds of those involved.
“Some people will still be hurting, some won’t remember it and will just get on with it. Everyone is different,” Jones said.
“We’ve got to make sure we learn from it. It was a failure for us in the final. What can we do better? How can we prepare for games like that in the future better?
“I’ve made mistakes – I don’t think I prepared the side well. Possibly I didn’t select well and they are things that every day I go over one way or the other.
“Of course I’m still hurting but that’s part of the joy of coaching. Just like when you win a game it feels good when you lose a game it hurts.”
England must plan for the Stade de France showdown on Sunday week without number eight Billy Vunipola and wing Jack Nowell, who are set to miss the entire Six Nations with respective arm and ankle injuries.
Of additional concern to Jones is how games will be officiated during the Championship.
“We’ve got no idea how the referees are going to referee the games, which is a concern for me because I felt teams weren’t allowed to play with enough quick ball,” Jones said.
“Slow ball means more kicking. More high balls. Do you like it when the half-backs go box, box, box? Do you enjoy that? No. That’s exactly right.
“I’d have two referees – one at the breakdown and one at the offside line. And the assistant referees are actually assistant referees.”
McCall confirms Saracens squad will be broken up:
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen 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.
30 Go to comments