The fixture that Eddie Jones never wants to see England play again
Ex-England boss Eddie Jones exited Twickenham with a Sunday evening parting shot for the RFU. During his time in charge and before he took over from Stuart Lancaster for the 2016 Six Nations, the rugby authorities would annually pencil in an end-of-season match at HQ between England and the Barbarians.
This tradition must have privately grated with Jones because, on the back of leading the Barbarians to their 48-42 Killik Cup victory over Steve Hansen’s World XV in a 14-try thriller, he took issue with the idea of England playing the Baa-Baas.
It was June last year when such a match-up was last held, Jones’ England charges getting humiliated 52-21 by a heavily influenced Barbarians side coached by Fabien Galthie.
That was very much an understrength England selection as the match took place on the same weekend at the Gallagher Premiership final between Saracens and Leicester, and numerous other Test squad front-liners were also absent as Jones rested them ahead of the tour to Australia.
It left his second-string England selection badly beaten and if that traditional fixture is ever to be revived against the Baa-Baas, Jones wants the RFU to start being more honest about it. “I can speak as a former England coach – I don’t think England should play the Barbarians unless it is a younger team.
“At this time (of the year), you can never pick the England team so it shouldn’t be called England. It should be called England President’s 15 or something like that. Playing against the Barbarians is a great idea but to try to sell it as England is not honest – it’s not honest.”
Jones would very much prefer the idea of Sunday’s Baa-Baas versus World XV concept being repeated given the calibre of crowd it attracted compared to your typical England game.
“Having a festival game like this at the end of the season, when it is all done and dusted, you had 33,000 and just walking around the crowd, I reckon 80 per cent were young kids.
“If we can inspire 20 per cent of those kids to play rugby, be rugby followers, then it is such a great vehicle to drive the game forward and it was on free-to-air TV, so a lot more people have got access to watch it. This is about building almost the culture of rugby, a game like this.”
Whereas 11 months ago he was left mugged as the England boss by Galthie’s far superior Barbarians, Jones basked in his role reversal this past week and was beaming that he has now also coached the world’s most famous invitational club to a Twickenham victory with a performance that very much exited.
“We wanted to win but we wanted to play good rugby. I felt the first half the quality of rugby was exceptional from both teams. Second half with the heat both teams got a little bit tired, but the first half particularly was well worth the price of a ticket,” he said.
What did it feel like to be coaching back at Twickenham just six months after his final match in charge of England? “Fantastic. Sun shining, no overcoat on, no scarf on, just a shirt. Fantastic. Loved it.”
As for the memories of English Rugby HQ that his return stirred, he said: “Just good ones. Seven years here, it’s the longest I have ever coached a team. I loved every minute of coaching here, loved every minute of coming back.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe 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?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments