Secret strategy: Eddie Jones reveals the trick that took down the All Blacks at 2019 World Cup
Eddie Jones has revealed the media warfare strategy he unleashed in an effort to destabilise the All Blacks before the 2019 Rugby World Cup semifinal.
England demolished the All Blacks in Japan at the end of a week in which he claimed the All Blacks may have spied on his training sessions. He also labelled the New Zealand media as “fans with keyboards”, trying to coerce them into grilling the All Black coaches harder.
Jones said that the world’s best teams are so close physically and tactically that mental preparation is often the factor which decides the winning and losing of games.
“We wanted to try to put pressure on the New Zealand media, stir things up a bit, put some pressure on Steve Hansen during the week,” he said in an interview with Newstalk ZB‘s Martin Devlin.
Former Aussie and Japan boss Jones indicated managing the media message had become an even bigger part of his strategy since taking over at England.
Jones produced a telltale giggle when asked if he was ever going to reveal who the spy might have been. At the time, he said England’s security had spotted someone with a long lens in an apartment.
“If you allow the media to run the race they will run the race,” Jones had told Devlin earlier.
“You’ve got to try and exert some control and get the messages you want out there. I want the players to hear messages that aid their performances.
“We know that everything we say (publicly) as coaches the players do listen to, or someone in their family listens to it.
“You’ve got to continually reinforce with your team that the only noise which is important is the noise in the room.”
Jones described the All Blacks quarter-final win over Ireland as containing “some of the best rugby we’ve seen – they were absolutely brilliant”.
“I watched that game again six weeks ago – they played some superb rugby,” he said.
TRANSFER: The England star appears to be staying. https://t.co/BzVduXllRE
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“(But) they had to get up again for us and England are seen as a team which always underperforms. The pressure was on New Zealand, there was less pressure on us.
“I couldn’t get it right for the South Africa game (England were thrashed in the final) – get them back up. You’re trying to manage the rhetoric.
“The more players hear (something) the more they believe it. It is the coach’s job to try and change that – it’s bloody hard.
“I needed to paint a stronger picture in the head of our players about how difficult the game was. But there’s always the risk of being too negative. It’s a fine line.”
RUGBY CHANGES
Jones said rugby had “sauntered” along in the professional era and needed changes to be sustainable.
In terms of rules, tacklers had been allowed too much latitude, slowing the game down.
“We’ve gone too far down the line of allowing contests to take over – we’ve gone away from being hard on the tackler rolling away,” he said.
RETURN TO TOURS
There is a thirst for mini tours, of three tests and midweek games, Jones said, although the classic 10 or 12-week tour was a thing of the past.
“Three or four-week tours would be great for rugby – it’s a soap opera with the same characters in different situations.”
THE NEW WALLABY COACH
Australia had made a smart move, employing a Kiwi as coach. He said Dave Rennie was a “hard, uncompromising but caring guy”.
“They’ve got good players – he’ll get the right balance in the Australian side,” he said.
LOCKDOWN
He was impressed at how young players had proved doubters wrong in maintaining their fitness levels.
“The lockdown has taught me how much I love rugby and coaching,” he said.
“There are going to be economic changes, that’s a worldwide thing in every area of life.
“There will be smaller (rugby) squads and staff, movement of players for a period of time will be less.”
JOHN MITCHELL
His assistant Mitchell, the former All Black coach, was a changed man.
“He used to be a banging on the table type of coach, now he is much more caring, questioning and consultative type of coach.”
ADVANTAGE IAN FOSTER
With a new head coach in Ian Foster, the All Blacks could not regard their next meeting with England as a chance for World Cup revenge.
“With Foz in charge, there is no pressure on him. They can throw the ball from side to side, it will be a great game.”
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