James Haskell slams 'utter madness' of Eddie Jones axing
Former England flanker James Haskell has described the Rugby Football Union’s decision to sack head coach Eddie Jones nine months out from the Rugby World Cup as “utter madness”.
Speaking to Sky Sports in the wake of Jones’ dismissal, the 77-cap ex England loose forward pointed the finger at “some grumpy old journalists and some miserable fans” who ganged up to oust his former coach.
Haskell played the best rugby of his career under Jones’ tutelage between 2016 and 2018, and described the Australian as “by far and away the best coach I’ve ever worked with,” while also highlighting his impressive record at World Cups.
“Personally, it’s utter madness,” the former Wasps and Northampton Saints flanker said. “You have literally taken the most successful World Cup coach, with a 90 percent winning record, and binned him nine months before a World Cup. He’s been to three World Cup finals. He’s won one and lost two. And he took Japan to some of the biggest upsets they’ve ever had.
“And then the best thing is, the person they want to replace him with at this point in time is not available, so you’re going to put someone else in charge for the Six Nations who hasn’t been an international coach just because of some grumpy old journalists and some miserable fans who’ve decided to gang up to get rid of him, which is pretty much the story of the modern world. If you shout loud enough and you’ve got enough fans in the media, you can achieve anything.”
“A lot of times, if you upset people and don’t conform, and Eddie Jones doesn’t conform- does he get everything right? No, I don’t think anybody gets everything right.
“Unfortunately, I think that because Eddie didn’t conform, didn’t play to the media’s tune, there were some guys that just didn’t want him in there.
“Look, the Six Nations was disappointing, the autumn internationals were disappointing, but not to the degree where there were such catastrophic errors. What some of these older heads are doing and some of these older journalists who don’t like Eddie, who don’t actually come down and watch training, they don’t speak to any of the current players, they’re not particularly popular with current players because of their opinions because they’re there to sell newspapers. Then you’ve got ex coaches who have agendas and vendettas who are able to use their media platform to put things out there. It’s not based on fact, it’s rhetoric, it’s nonsense. You talk about the players not being confident, you talk about the players losing their shine, you talk about players coming in and out squad. Eddie’s there to put the best players on the field and I had five international coaches with England, and they were some of the worst environments I’ve ever been part of.
“Eddie Jones is by far and away the best coach I’ve ever worked with. He understood how to get the best out of the players, create a competitive environment, create a professional environment, and some of these journalists, when they recommend coaches to take over, the people they’re suggesting are not in the same league as Eddie Jones.”
Jones’ former assistant coach with England and Japan, Steve Borthwick, has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Jones having guided Leicester Tigers to Gallagher Premiership glory earlier this year. Having played alongside him, and worked under him after becoming a coach, Haskell was hugely complimentary of Borthwick.
“If the person taking over is Steve Borthwick, I think he’s utterly brilliant,” he said. “If anybody could take over from Eddie Jones, I can’t think of a better person. He’s the number one person that I would have suggested. I didn’t think a million years they’d ever get him because of what a good job he’s doing with [Leicester] Tigers. If they get Kevin Sinfield as well, then England are in a good place and it’s a nice transition.”
“People aren’t honest” 😬
James Haskell believes it’s ‘utter madness’ Eddie Jones has been sacked as England head coach just nine months before the 2023 Rugby World Cup 🌹🏉 pic.twitter.com/ihLnurSitN
ADVERTISEMENT— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 7, 2022
Comments on RugbyPass
Dont know if the Irish players said it or not, but lets all be honest with ourselves, and hopefully both the Irish and French have healed by now, the Media did jump the gun, be realistic, according to 90% of the media it was a France and Ireland final, and the media had 1 of them winning the world cup, not even mentioning the All blacks? Just remember world cups are different, Australia was not the most in form cricket tean in the last cricket world cup, but they have a nack of winning when it matters. I wont go into whether what Etzabeth is saying is true, all I am saying is that its very easy for a team to get ahead of themselves due to the media. Nothing wrong with it, the media got the springboks over confident against England and we nearly lost that one.
33 Go to commentsHey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
2 Go to commentsI don’t think this has been ventilated enough. Discuss. Perhaps the lessons in all of this is that, in the game of life, one should do all the talking on the field of play. And in the game of rugby, what’s said on the field - stays on the field. Take care of yourselves. And each other.
33 Go to commentsLow skills compared to the Junior ABs. The ball handling and ball retention of the SAns in particular was utterly woeful. The latter will be better on home turf.
2 Go to comments1. Heard this so often over the yrs. One Warriors CEO even claimed future kids wouldnt know which came first, the ABs or the Warriors. Always keen to talk themselves up. 2. That fella Barakat who says he will drop HBHS sponsorship because HBHS quite rightly wants its players to focus on rugby is an odd fit as a sponsor in the first place. As a recruitment official for the Warriors he seems to regard his sponsorship as a paid licence to help to select players from HBHS for the league side. Maybe he should find a league school to fund.
1 Go to commentsNZ U20s are the team to beat this year for sure. And how nice after so long that NZRFU is actually taking this seriously. For far too long they have been sending woefully coached and woefully underprepared teams to the U20 WCs. That Wrampling boy is a star in the making.
2 Go to commentsI agree ..come on keyboard warriors and journalists looking for a cheap win ….. only 2 mins to go 12 points down …this DID NOT decide the game and beside JM was hit after the whistle and in response it was a pat on the back of the head …harmless ….watch soccer if this is your issue
4 Go to commentsRest is for namby pamby sissies, I see. True men should overcome their trifling injuries by playing week in, week out. Bidwell’s stance reminds me of a Jon Gadsby character from the 70s, a rugby captain giving an after-match speech: “It was a very physical contest. One of our players caught a boot on the back of his head in a ruck, and he died, actually. But to his credit, he played on.”
1 Go to commentsI still see nothing in Sotutus play that hes changed his upright running style that failed so many times against decent international defences like the french. Other than that… Iose? Well you have covered his limitations well. If Sititi had been playing the the season… Jacobson? Grace?…Neither shout pick me. So Ardie it is.
1 Go to commentsThere isn’t one element you mentioned there that every top class or successful team gets up to. The great All blacks sides used to play on the ‘fringes or edge’ but it was essentially saying they were doing something illegal or borderline to gain dominance. The fine margins at the top are minute between the top sides. La Rochelle, the crusaders, Saracens, Toulon etc etc…..have all been accused. Get over it, the comment comes across as salty and naive. Northampton as well as they played to get back into the match were thoroughly beaten and controlled for 60 minutes and Leinster have only themselves to blame for kicking it away and hence losing control of the match and being nearly the architects of their own downfall.
2 Go to commentsThere is some talent coming thru thats for sure. The 10 looks special to me. Rico Simpson is a name to look for in the future.
2 Go to commentsI think this quiet honestly is just an innocent misunderstanding by someone who is pig sh*t stupid. Eben is a fine player but by christ, if he can’t understand or get what the Irish players were trying to say to him after the match…..well i hope he has someone looking after his finances, career and is reading the fine print for him, cause life after rugby may be quite difficult for the vacuous echo chamber.
33 Go to commentsIt could be Doris' day!
3 Go to commentsThe whole thing has blown up because Eben’s words have clearly struck a nerve in Ireland. Otherwise they would just laugh it off. I think some former Irish players, commentators and some Irish fans know deep down this Ireland team started to believe its own press and that a certain amount of arrogance had started to creep in during the World Cup. The topic was actually brought up by Irish pundits on Off the Ball recently. It’s fine to be arrogant if you can back it up. Ireland didn’t.
33 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
33 Go to commentsLa mejor final que se puede ver en el emisferio norte.
1 Go to commentsA lot of cope from south africans in the comments. Etzebeth is a liar and a hypocrite; you don’t have to defend him!
33 Go to commentsHe got big and really slow for a flyhalf…not sure he’s relevant in a bok conversation anymore
4 Go to commentsBest tourney team vs best team in the regular season for 3 games in RSA - talk is cheap, let’s see what’s what on the tour
33 Go to commentsOne overlooked statistic from their 2016 winning season is the Huricanes are still the only team in Super rugby history not to concede a try during the playoff rounds.
4 Go to comments