How Eddie Jones' describes his current relationship with Borthwick
Eddie Jones has no emotional attachment to England as he prepares for his first appearance at Twickenham since being sacked by the RFU. Jones takes charge of the Barbarians against the World XV in a star-studded fixture on Sunday that is a brief interruption to his duties as the Australia head coach.
England’s decline last year, winning just five of 12 Tests, compelled the RFU to sever ties in December, but the 63-year-old still departed with the highest win record of any Red Rose boss with 73 per cent.
Now he has turned his attention to reviving the Wallabies ahead of a possible quarter-final appearance against the side he oversaw for seven years at this autumn’s World Cup. In doing so, all connection with England has been severed.
“I don’t watch England. I want that team to do okay, but there is no emotional attachment to that team anymore,” Jones said. “I have been lucky enough to coach internationally and when I go to a team I love the team I’m coaching, but then when I move I don’t have any regrets, any bad feelings.
“England are just one of the six teams in the Six Nations. I watch them. I think about them like all the teams – how I would coach them if I had that team? And then if we come up against them I have already got something in my head.”
England are now overseen by Steve Borthwick, who was Jones’ number two with Japan before being appointed to his coaching staff for his first World Cup cycle in charge at Twickenham. Jones was a regular at Leicester’s training ground when Borthwick joined the Tigers as director of rugby, but their communication has since dwindled.
“It’s dried up a bit,” Jones said. England performed no better under Borthwick during the recent Six Nations, managing only two wins to finish fourth in the table.
Borthwick stated after a dispiriting loss to Scotland in the opener that he inherited a team that “weren’t good at anything” and while Jones agreed, he stressed he was laying the foundations for the World Cup.
Jones was reshaping England’s attack configured around a creative axis of Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell and he remains convinced it was the right path, warning Borthwick that conservative tactics in France this autumn will not be enough to seize South Africa’s global crown.
“It is true [England weren’t good at anything]. We were trying to build a team to win the World Cup,” Jones said. “I don’t believe you are going to be able to win the World Cup by just kicking. I don’t believe you can. I can be proven wrong. But I think with the grounds as they are, you are going to need to play more positive rugby. Steve was right.”
Jones’ last appearance at Twickenham saw England booed from the pitch following the defeat to South Africa in the climax of the autumn. Being greeted in the same way on Sunday has not crossed his mind. “I never worry about things I can’t control. I don’t control that, so it’s no use even thinking about it,” he said.
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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 comments