The awkward moment when Jones hinted he didn't write his books

England boss Eddie Jones has never been a coach that has been shy of putting his thoughts down on paper. It was just last November that Leadership, Lessons From My Life in Rugby was published, a book that hit the shelves just 24 months after his previous publication, My Life And Rugby.    

However, rugby fans who thought they were getting an insight into the mind of the England coach might have to reappraise that view following an awkward exchange by Jones with a journalist at a media briefing after he named his team to play Ireland this weekend.  

Jones has been busy this week suggesting that Ireland are red-hot favourites for the round four Guinness Six Nations match, mentioning how multiple ex-England and former Irish players have been predicting victory for Andy Farrell’s visiting team. 

Back in the Game – RFU

Back in the Game – RFU

The headlines these opinions have generated have become a touchy subject and when Jones was asked a specific question that referenced one of his books, his response was rather unsettling. Here is how the conversation unfolded, including the claim by Jones that he might not have written what was published under his name. 

JOURNALIST: You mention headlines, it brought back something from your book about how before a game you had used potential headlines as some kind of tool. Have you done that this week or anything else different to focus the minds of the players?

JONES: I’ll give you one tip, never believe what is written, mate. You don’t even know whether I wrote that book. Someone else could have wrote that book. 

JOURNALIST: But it does have your name on the top of it. 

JONES: Yeah, but I have seen articles where you have written things and then you claim that the sub-editor put the headline. It wasn’t me, so.

JOURNALIST: I wrote the article. 

JONES: That’s good. 

JOURNALIST: Are you saying that didn’t happen?

JONES: Look, mate, my job is to put our team in the best mindset that it can be for the game That is my job. How I do that there is a variety of strategies that we use, some of which are obvious and some of which are less obvious. I am certainly not inclined to share those strategies with you now but I am happy to have a cup of coffee with you. I just need to make sure we don’t go to the coffee shop where the girl thinks that Ireland are red-hot favourites and they are going to win.  

JOURNALIST: I’d be delighted to have a coffee.