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Watch: Eddie Jones blows up at journalist over 'smart-arse' question

Eddie Jones confronts a journalist in Pretoria Credit: Lunga Kupiso

Making no excuses for the Wallabies’ disastrous performance against South Africa, coach Eddie Jones has chided a local reporter following their Rugby Championship opener in Pretoria.

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The Wallabies were outclassed in every facet at Loftus Versfeld and were lucky to only fall to a 43-12 defeat, which was their heaviest against the Springboks since 2008.

The match highlighted the work Jones has ahead before this year’s Rugby World Cup in France, where South Africa will defend their title.

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The home side were without a number of their stars, with the Springboks sending a dozen players ahead to New Zealand to start preparation for next weekend’s clash with the All Blacks.

After the match, Jones took umbrage at a South African journalist’s question.

“Eddie, you expressed your disappointment in the week that you weren’t playing the first-choice Springboks side. Is that a bit of relief now?,” the reporter asked, prompting a lashing from the veteran coach.

< p>“South Africans are good at winning. You don’t have to be a smart-arse mate,” Jones said.
“We were well and truly beaten today by a Springboks side that old mate is calling the B-team, right? I never knew there was a Springboks side that was called the B-team.”

Jones confronted the journalist after the press conference, demanding more respect.

“You don’t have to be a smart-arse mate,” Jones said again.

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“You should have more respect mate. I never said that mate. I said we always want to play the best. Show some respect.”

The Wallabies led early with star winger Marika Koroibete scoring but from that point were out-muscled by the physical Springboks.

Making more than double the amount of tackles, they were always on the back foot with the forwards unable to lay any kind of platform for five-eighth Quade Cooper to orchestrate the attack.

They resorted to repeatedly kicking away possession which kept them under the pump in defence and a 17-5 half-time scoreline blew out with the Wallabies also giving up two penalty tries.

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“We were outplayed everywhere,” Jones said.

“The only positive was the first 20 minutes, where we tried to play with a bit of pace, we tried to shift turnover ball and we looked dangerous but we weren’t able to sustain that effort.

“We got beaten at the set-piece, got beaten at the gain-line, got beaten in the air.

“When you do not win any of those contests, it is going to be a long day at the office.”

The Australians only have a few days to turn around the loss, hosting Argentina on Saturday night in Sydney.

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The Pumas, coached by ex-Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, fell 41-12 to New Zealand in Mendoza to open their Rugby Championship campaign.

Jones said the Wallabies needed more consistency in their set piece and to find ways to get over the gain line.

“If we fix those issues we will be back in the money against Argentina,” Jones said.

Debutant Carter Gor don, who replaced fve-eighth Cooper after 68 minutes and scored a late try, looks a chance for a start against the Pumas.

“I thought Marika (Koroibete) was outstanding and Carter, coming on for his first Test in a difficult situation, showed he has a bright future,” Jones said.

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7 Comments
U
Utiku Old Boy 527 days ago

Eddie Jones resented being reminded of his comments. Lashing out at a journo doesn't hide the fact his game plan was crap and his big mouth (and his implied expertise) was behind yet another Wallaby false dawn.

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 528 days ago

Probably one of the greatest moments in that journo's professional life, impeccable. And ole Eddie with that smile of "I'm gonna find and break you" was chilling. Knowing Eddie, well who truly does?, one can't help but think he planned this massacre just to lull the ABs to sleep: week one--get atomized in SA; week two--barely, limpingly eek out a win against the Pumas; week three--ambush the ABs by 15+

K
Kenward K. 529 days ago

'The match highlighted the work Jones has ahead before this year’s Rugby World Cup in France'. Couldn't have put it better myself.

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Tom 4 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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