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‘It’s about consistency’: Why Eddie Jones sprayed reporters in Sydney
Before flying out to France a few weeks ago, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones unleashed his frustration and disappointment upon journalists during the “worst press conference I’ve ever had.”
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Now we know why. For the first time since that now infamous press conference, coach Jones has revealed the reasons behind his antics – saying, “Sometimes you’ve gotta have a bit of fun.”
The Wallabies named a young 33-man squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, and coached Jones named a new captain ahead of the sports showpiece event as well.
Some selections raised eyebrows, sure, but those decisions had been made by the Australian selectors as their sights on a warm-up Test with France in Paris.
The Wallabies had their bags packed and some stylish apparel on as they prepared to head towards the departures at Sydney International Airport on August 18.
As Australia farewelled their rugby union heroes, coach Jones spoke with some reporters – and it didn’t exactly go down well, but Jones doesn’t regret it either.
“Sometimes you’ve gotta have a bit of fun. There was a serious part to it,” Jones said on Ben Fordham Live on Thursday. “We’ve got a young team here, we’re trying to find our way.
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“The journos, all they wanted to concentrate (on) was old conversations that weren’t even true.
“We’ve obviously had a disappointing lead-up to the World Cup but we’re here now, we’ve got a good, young team, we’ve got a new captain in Will Skelton, and we’re ready to go.
“We’ve got to look after our team, we’ve got to look after a young group of players and we want them to feel like there’s people behind them.”
The Wallabies started their new era under coach Jones with an emphatic loss to world champions South Africa in Pretoria.
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Things didn’t get much better for the men in gold, with the Aussies losing on home soil a week later to Argentina. Back-to-back defeats to the All Blacks followed, including a thriller in Dunedin.
But the reality of the situation was clear for all to see. While the Wallabies had shown glimpses of promise, they were still 0-4 and were set to play France in Paris before the World Cup.
Playing in front of a vibrant crowd at Stade de France last weekend, the Wallabies couldn’t turn attacking pressure into points as Les Bleus made them pay on the scoreboard.
France ran away with a 41-17 victory as the Wallabies fell to five losses from as many starts under coach Jones.
“It’s really interesting mate. Against France our best moments were better than France, but our worst moments are far worse than France,” Jones added.
“It’s about consistency, keep doing the simple things well, and at the moment we don’t have the capacity to do that but we’re slowly building.
“We’ve built from the first game of The Rugby Championship to the last game of The Rugby Championship, and the France (match) which was another step in the right direction.
“The pool games are about getting through to the playoffs and we’ve got Georgia in the first game in two weeks’ time and we’ll have a great preparation for them.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Who listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
40 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
40 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
39 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe 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.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 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.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 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.
40 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
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