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Eddie Jones on Twickenham return: 'It wasn't bad until some clown abused me'
By Martyn Thomas at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Eddie Jones has alleged he was verbally abused at half-time of Japan’s Autumn Nations Series defeat to England at Allianz Stadium.
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Japan boss Jones was facing England in Twickenham for the first time since being sacked as head coach almost two years ago.
The Brave Blossoms lost the match 59-14 and England had already built a 35-7 lead by half-time when Jones says the altercation with a fan took place.
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Asked how his return to south-west London had gone, Jones said: “It wasn’t bad until some clown abused me going down to half-time.
“But if there’s only one clown in 81,634 it’s not too bad. So, it was good mate. Obviously disappointed with the result but it’s always good to come to the home of rugby.”
Jones refused to be drawn on what had been said to him, saying only that he was “not going to repeat it here because I’ll get into trouble”.
One issue Jones was more happy to talk about, though, was the recent allegations made by former England scrum-half Danny Care about his time in charge of the national team.
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Care claimed that Jones created a “toxic” environment during his near seven-year spell in charge of England and added that playing under him was like “living in a dictatorship”.
But Jones suggested that he would have his own say in print, and joked that he had already signed a book deal to tell all about coaching the Harlequins No9.
“I’ll tell you, mate, I’ve got a new book deal coming out. Just signed it today,” he said.
“It’s called ‘Caring about Care’. So, you’ll get all the details in that.”
On the pitch, a young Brave Blossoms side struggled at the set piece, particularly in the first half, and found themselves 28-0 down with barely 30 minutes on the clock.
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Having conceded a fifth on the stroke of half-time, Japan mounted a brief fight back after the break, but the hosts ran in a further four tries before the final whistle to secure a comfortable victory.
Speaking afterwards, Jones admitted his side’s issues at the set-piece made it hard for them to gain a foothold in the match but suggested defeat would be a beneficial experience for them.
“We get one thing right and then another thing breaks down. Today the lineout was poor, our scrum wasn’t good and we struggled to compete in the game then.
“But they’re a really young team, 200 caps today and we’ve just got to accept it’s part of the process. We’ve just got to stick at it.
“We’ve been up and down in the season. I don’t think there’s anything we’ve massively improved in, anything we’ve massively got worse in. It’s just been really up and down, and we’ve just got to stick at it.
“Congratulations to England today, to Steve [Borthwick]. I’m glad he won’t have you blokes haunting him for at least seven days, anyway. I’m pleased for that and I’m sure he’s going to enjoy his orange juice tonight.”
Go behind the scenes of both camps during the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021. Binge watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV now
What's happened in this picture? Has Eddie shrank into a giant puffer jacket?
The media really went after Eddie and the worse of humanity took it as a green to act abusively towards him.
I'm sure the RFU will apologise to Eddie but maybe the BBC owe him an apology for stoking these flames?
Sad to hear. Love Eddie.