The 'chat' the RFU had after England boss Jones used 'poison' word
RFU CEO Bill Sweeney has revisited the damaging fallout that took place in March 2021 after England boss Eddie Jones lost his composure at a media briefing and accused the press of spreading poison about his players in the lead-up to the Six Nations loss versus Ireland. That depressing defeat in Dublin consigned the English to an embarrassing fifth-place finish in the tournament.
It sparked an in-depth review of the campaign by the RFU amid calls that Jones should lose his job due to the collapse in his team’s form. The Australian, though, rode out the storm and has since got England back on an upwards trajectory, the team winning all five of its Test matches since then – including eye-catching victories in the two most recent outings versus the Springboks and the Wallabies.
Jones is now formulating his plans for the 2022 Six Nations and is due to announce his England squad for the tournament on Tuesday, January 18. Given the high hopes that will accompany them heading into that campaign, it was perhaps timely that RFU CEO Sweeney recently reflected on how it all unravelled for Jones and co in the 2021 tournament, culminating in the stinging criticism of the Australian for his ‘poison’ narrative in and around the round five Ireland match.
Jones said at the time: “The wrong time (is when) you start to listen to the poison that is written in the media and that rat poison gets into players’ heads and we try to keep it out of their head. We try to spray all that rat poison that you try to put in and get it out of their head, so we are always working hard to get it out of their head. It keeps me busy, mate.”
Speaking in a lengthy interview in the latest edition of the Rugby Journal magazine, Sweeney sifted through the rhythm of that last Six Nations campaign for England and revealed how he had to give Jones a serious talking to following the backlash of his headline-generating poison remarks.
The date is set for the latest Eddie Jones England squad reveal #SixNations #Englandhttps://t.co/JHOe7oa1wQ
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“We knew it was going to be a tough Six Nations,” said Sweeney in the magazine. “We were particularly hit by Covid leading up to it. You don’t really talk about it too much because it comes across as an excuse and every team has to deal with it, but we did have a significant Covid issue in the camp. Eddie himself got isolated, Jason Ryles was stuck in Australia, we were very disrupted and we knew we were undercooked for that Scotland game.
“Then (after Italy) we had that weird Welsh game when we had those two decisions early on and it felt it was just not going to be but you pull it back and then three players come off the bench, three penalties, nine points down. You have chased the game, intercepted pass, game is gone.
“And then we played France. I remember talking to Eddie and saying, ‘Can we win this one?’ He said, ‘Yeah, no questions. We’re guaranteed we will this one’. So then, we played pretty well and had a bit of luck (and won), we’re going for a walk down the river and he’s saying, ‘I’ve got to keep the players focused, I don’t want them getting too carried away by what they read in the media about performance’.
“He said, ‘You have got to keep growing and focusing because if they listen to some of that poison it will be difficult to make that work’. I said to him, ‘Just be careful what you say on that’. Sometimes a word sticks out and, of course, pre-Ireland media conference he talked about poison and the media. We lost the game and we did get a bit of a backlash, so I did have a chat with him about that one.”
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 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.
22 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.
9 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.
22 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.
28 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 🤐
22 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….
28 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….
22 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….
90 Go to comments