Moody tells Telfer to focus on Scotland after Jones jibe
Lewis Moody said Jim Telfer should be more concerned about how Scotland become a force in international rugby rather than insult England, who will look to break new ground in their Six Nations opener against France on Saturday.
Last week, Scotland great Telfer stoked the fires of the old rivalry by making disparaging remarks about England and head coach Eddie Jones.
Jones responded by saying Telfer is entitled to make personal comments about him, but launched a staunch defence of the Twickenham crowd saying: “To say the fans at Twickenham are arrogant is absolutely ridiculous.
“I’ve coached all around the world and I think the fans at Twickenham are passionate, loyal, reasonably well educated and provide a great atmosphere.
“It’s one of the greatest rugby grounds in the world. If he doesn’t like that, don’t come.”
And Moody, a World Cup winner with England in 2003, says perceptions of arrogance are unfair and any team that has won 14 straight matches is entitled to be confident.
“I think sometimes England need to be more confident in their ability, if you’re going to go out and win games you don’t do it by not being confident,” he told Omnisport.
“Arrogance is a label other people put on England, players don’t label themselves arrogant, they go in there confident because they are on an incredibly successful winning streak.
“I have no problem that England should sing and dance about being successful, too long the British mentality is about knocking people who are succeeding, why not embrace the fact that the side are doing incredibly well at the minute.
“I’d say every England player that goes on the pitch shows respect by going out there and playing their absolute best against every side they come across.
“That’s a classic Scottish mentality, that’s what they call on pre-game to wind themselves up rather than focusing on what they need to do which is focus on what is going to win the game.”
If England can begin the start of their Six Nations defence by beating France at Twickenham it will mark the first time in their history they have won 15 straight games – 14 of which will have been under Jones’ stewardship.
Moody has been particularly impressed with England’s strength in depth and the way Jones has dealt with injuries in key positions.
“I am genuinely excited about the first game,” he added.
“England have had such a great run of form, equalling that successful winning streak of 14, they’ve had a Grand Slam, a first series win down under in Australia, so it’s an exciting build up.
“As always Eddie Jones has to deal with a number of injuries that the Premiership structure [brings] but because of the way Jones has been able to draft in other players because of injury, suddenly the strength in depth that England are witnessing is something quite special.
“You lose Anthony Watson who is probably first choice, but you’ve got Elliot Daly or Jack Nowell to choose from – and Jonny May.
“That’s an exciting position to be in. I’m surprised they didn’t go with Jack Nowell but maybe they wanted to give Elliot Daly a chance to redeem that red card [against Argentina in the November internationals].”
Lewis Moody is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover has a heritage in supporting rugby at all levels, from grassroots to the elite. Through its ‘We Deal In Real’ campaign, Land Rover continues to shine a light on the people, players and clubs at the heart and soul of the game.
Comments on RugbyPass
The 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?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments