1
Jones will diagnose England's problems, insists Gregan
George Gregan expects Eddie Jones to get England back on track sooner rather than later and believes his former coach will be relishing the challenge.
ADVERTISEMENT
After winning 24 of their first 25 Tests under Jones, claiming two Six Nations titles, one Grand Slam success and a 3-0 series victory on Australian soil in the process, England endured a dramatic slump in form as they lost three matches in succession to finish fifth in the 2018 Six Nations.
Yet ex-Australia skipper Gregan, who worked under Jones at international and club level during his illustrious career, is not anticipating England’s woes to continue for much longer.
“He’ll react like he always does. He likes a challenge, Eddie, and he’ll be looking to get better – win, lose or draw,” HSBC ambassador Gregan told Omnisport.
“They’ll get to the bottom of it. He’ll identify things that need fixing and they’ll get on to it. They’ll be on to it already.
“He’ll enjoy this experience. You can’t keep winning. What are they, 24 [wins] from 28? And that’s a team that got bundled out of the [2015] World Cup before the play-offs, so he’s done a pretty good job from that perspective.
“Yes, they’ve lost three in a row and no one likes to lose three in a row, but it just shows you the margins are very small in international rugby. They were probably on the positive side of some tight matches in the last couple of years.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Congratulations to @IrishRugby who have secured a #6Nations Grand Slam with a 24-15 win over @EnglandRugby at Twickenham #ENGvIRE pic.twitter.com/FtwQCv5aaa
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) March 17, 2018
England will bid to bounce back from their miserable Six Nations during a June series in South Africa.
“There’s always learning in any sport and Eddie’s a very quick learner. I’m sure they’re keen to get back to winning ways and there’s no better way than to get back on the horse and take on a challenge like that in South Africa,” Gregan added.
“That’s the sort of attitude Eddie will have and I’m sure the playing group will respond positively.”
Gregan was speaking at the Hong Kong Sevens and believes rugby’s shortest format will continue to grow in the coming years.
ADVERTISEMENT
This shows there should be a beach at every #HSBC7s ??#HSBCHotSeat #Sydney7s pic.twitter.com/Q8oAHmkRrT
— George Gregan (@GeorgeGregan) January 28, 2018
“There are a lot of countries that use it to blood players [for the 15-a-side game],” he continued. “I know New Zealand have used it a lot, with the likes of Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Rieko and Akira Ioane, Liam Messam, Ben Smith.
“They all started playing Sevens and went into 15-a-side careers, but the way Sevens is growing internationally and its introduction to the Olympics – I think it’s becoming more and more popular on an international scale. There could be a real career for people just staying in Sevens.”
—
As a long-term supporter of Rugby Sevens, HSBC is committed to working alongside partner World Rugby to achieve their shared goal of growing the sport worldwide. The creation of the film ‘The Mind’ starring George Gregan is part of HSBC’s focus on reaching new fans all over the world by highlighting the incredible athletes and stories only found in this unique sport. You can view the film across HSBC Sport social media channels.
Watch episode one of the Rugby Explorer below
Ex-Scotland international, Jim Hamilton, travels to Singapore to explore the city and find out more about the rugby scene in the Southeast Asian country. He meets up with the national team captain and several local players.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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.
25 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?
11 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.
11 Go to comments