Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Eddie Jones has been at it again, doing some coaching outside of his England job

(Photo by PA)

Eddie Jones has admitted he has been at it again, coaching outside the remit of his England head coach position. It was last week when the Australian fronted media to defend his extracurricular coaching following the avalanche of criticism that accompanied the revelation that he was coaching at Beauden Barrett’s Suntory Sungoliath in Japan less than a week after the RFU published its review on recent England’s fifth-place Six Nations campaign.

ADVERTISEMENT

Jones’ excursion to the Far East especially drew the ire of ex-England boss Clive Woodward, who claimed: “His coaching role in Japan makes English rugby look RIDICULOUS… he should be 100 per cent focused on the job and can afford absolutely zero distractions.”

When asked last week by RugbyPass for the reasons why he needed to do some additional coaching on a consultancy basis, Jones explained: “I’m a coach, I have got to practise coaching. If you are a golfer you play golf, if you’re a coach you coach and I only get twelve weeks a year to coach with England so I have got to use my time in between to practise coaching and find better ways to coach.

Video Spacer

RugbyPass is sharing unique stories from iconic British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa in proud partnership with The Famous Grouse, the Spirit of Rugby

Video Spacer

RugbyPass is sharing unique stories from iconic British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa in proud partnership with The Famous Grouse, the Spirit of Rugby

For 25 years I have always practised coaching and I actually use my holidays to practise coaching because I love it, mate, and I get the opportunity to do a little bit of coaching at Suntory, I get the opportunity to work with some of the best players in the world.

“Bob Dwyer, who was the foremost influence on my coaching, always said the best players are the best coaches so find the best players, pick their brains, learn from them and that is the best way to improve your coaching. That is something I have done continually for 25 years, I go around clubs continually to try to pick people’s brains and obviously you share some information with them. That is the obvious thing, it’s information sharing. Very useful, mate.”

In the wake of Jones’ defence of his extracurricular coaching outside England, Exeter boss Rob Baxter reckoned it would be very difficult for a Premiership club to allow the England coach to come in and do this type of training closer to his home rather than having to fly overseas. “As regards being on a field and coaching, it would be pretty difficult if I’m honest with you… I don’t think coaching in the Premiership would be anything like the simple answer that it seems,” suggested Baxter.

“I genuinely don’t because our plans and what we are aiming for are for club success. Yes, we want our players to have some success and play international rugby but ultimately most coaches would tell you that you want to avoid disruption throughout the year, not encourage it.”

ADVERTISEMENT

It was only last Thursday when Baxter outlined his scepticism regarding Jones potentially practising coaching in the Premiership, but less than a week later the Australian admitted he had been coaching at Leicester this week thanks to accommodation from Tigers boss Steve Borthwick, his former England and Japan assistant.

Asked about Leicester getting six players included in the England summer series squad, Jones volunteered: “It’s an exciting time for Leicester, an exciting time for us to pick well-coached, well-manufactured players from Leicester and Steve Borthwick is doing an outstanding job.

“Yesterday [Tuesday], I spent the day up there with him. Managed to do a little bit of coaching. I know I am not supposed to coach another team so I apologise now, I apologise for coaching another team but I was able to do a little bit of practise there and it was good. It’s great to see those young players come through.

“Leicester is such an important club for England. Historically they have been at the base of most successful England sides and they went through a difficult period. Now Steve is there, he is doing an outstanding job and bringing good young talent through. You look at the young guys that are coming out of the Tigers, (Joe) Heyes, (Dan) Kelly, (Freddie) Steward, they are all about the same age and they will have a few more in the (England) 20s.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Ellis Genge, George Martin and Harry Wells were the three other Leicester picks in the 34-strong England squad for next week’s five-day training camp in London. There was no place for seasoned Tigers such as half-backs George Ford and Ben Youngs, who declared himself unavailable last month to be considered for Lions tour selection.

“He is rested,” said Jones about the Ford situation. “He has got a nagging calf injury that he has carried all season and battled his way through. The best thing for him now is to have a good recovery period and then get his body ready for the next period of time.

“They [Ford and co] were very understanding. They know they have had a particularly difficult period of time and they need to rest and recuperate, they need to get their bodies back to good condition. They were all carrying an injury of some sort that they need to properly rehab, so it is a great opportunity for them.

“It’s like a 21st birthday party,” Jones continued, focusing on the dominance of fresh faces in an England squad containing 21 uncapped players. “They are all exciting and we want to see what they have got. Coming into an England camp you have to adapt quickly because it is a different situation to your club and the test is the ability to adapt quickly and then play to their strengths.

“They have all got strengths and that is why they have been selected in the squad. All 21 have got a great opportunity. We will be watching them closely in terms of the way they prepare for training, the way they train, the way they go about business with other players and it is their opportunity to put their foot forward.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
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
LONG READ
LONG READ 'There will be no honeymoon period for Borthwick's wedding usher El-Abd' 'There will be no honeymoon period for Borthwick's wedding usher El-Abd'
Search