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Jones blindsided by the revelation he was named at Erasmus hearing

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones is a coach very rarely stuck for words but the England boss was blindsided by the revelation that his name featured in the sanctioning section of the written judgment published after Rassie Erasmus was banned from rugby this week.

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Springboks director Erasmus was suspended from all rugby with immediate effect on Wednesday for a period of two months following his misconduct hearing regarding charges arising out of the Test series versus the British and Irish Lions earlier this year. 

Erasmus was also banned from any involvement on a matchday until September 30 next year, while SA Rugby must pay a fine of £20,000. Both Erasmus and SA Rugby must also apologise for their actions, but both those parties have since stated they will be exercising their right to appeal.  

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Freddie Burns on whether the Springboks will target Maro Itoje and Marcus Smith

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Freddie Burns on whether the Springboks will target Maro Itoje and Marcus Smith

In the 80-page written judgment detailing how the entire case was handled from the July 24 Test match in Cape Town all the way through to the decision to suspend Erasmus, the name of England boss Jones cropped up on page 40 of the document, something that was news to the Australian when it was mentioned to him at his team announcement media briefing on Thursday.

Falling under a section headed regulatory powers, guidance and principles, the judicial committee noted that they had been provided with plenty of examples of sanctioning in cases involving a coach or director of rugby directly threatening a match official. First in the list of seven cases referenced was the 2007 disciplinary hearing taken against Jones by Sanzar. 

The listing read: “Jones, then coach of Queensland Reds, admitted misconduct arising out of his media comments which included the following observations: ‘Referee decided to referee the scrums a different way which I thought was absolutely outrageous’, ‘Just can’t have that in professional rugby, but unfortunately that is the case’, ‘Referee decide he was going to square up in the second half – gave them, I think, four penalties in a row’ and ‘How much is the fine? I’ll have to check with my accountant… whatever the fine, I’ll pay twice. I thought it (the refereeing) was outrageous’. He was fined and ordered to apologise.”

Asked for his thoughts at his name getting mentioned in the sanctioning section at the Erasmus hearing, England boss Jones said: “I have got no idea what you are talking about, mate.”

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When it was explained to him it had something to do with an incident in 2007 regarding comments he made about scrums, he added: “I really don’t know what you are talking about, mate. I can remember getting fined in 2007 and I paid the price for not showing the respect I should have shown and I have learned from that. I made a mistake and I learned from that. I haven’t encroached on that area again and that is all I can say, mate. I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Ironically, one of the other six cases referenced by the Erasmus judicial committee involved Richard Cockerill, the new England assistant, when he was coach of Leicester in 2009. It stated: “He entered the technical area and threatened ‘this bloke is f***ing s**t’, ‘you are all a bunch of useless c***s’ and ‘I’m going to slag this c**t off to every f***ing newspaper going, you watch me’. He admitted both charges and was suspended from match-day coaching for four weeks. The suspension from matchday contact (direct and indirect) with his team and match officials was on matchdays.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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