THINGS you never have to say to Eddie Jones, No 1: “It’s only a game, mate.” No matter the situation he finds himself in, the Australian always has at least a wry grin on his face. He prepares seriously and meticulously, of course, but never loses sight of the fact that sport is meant to be enjoyable, for players, for spectators, and as far as he is concerned for coaches too.
When Jones is enjoying himself, that grin evolves into a rasping cackle, and right now he’s enjoying himself all right. We’re at the launch of the RBS 6 Nations Championship in London, and the new England coach, entirely unbidden, is embarking on his explanation of why Scotland will be favourites to win the Calcutta Cup.
He says a lot of things for nuisance value, or in the hope that they will influence the situation in his favour, and his analysis of Saturday’s at Murrayfield match does not entirely stack up. But Jones has rock-solid rugby knowledge, so you listen and enjoy.
“It’s a bit of a different situation, isn’t it, with Scotland going in as red-hot favourites and us as underdogs,” he starts. “All the pressure is on Scotland to perform. England got knocked out of the pool [at the World Cup]. Scotland got out of the pool, went to the quarter-finals and feel like they were unjustifiably knocked out.
“How can they not be favourites? Tell me. Someone needs to talk to that William Hill and all those betting shops and say ‘what’s going on here?’.”
Remind Jones of the fact that England have around 10 times as many players from which to choose, and that they have been beaten only once by Scotland in past decade and more, and he has a ready reply. “We’ve got talent, but they haven’t been cohesive.
“The great thing about Scotland is that they developed the capacity to win games. They’ve got quite a settled squad now and that’s why they’re favourites. They’ve had a group of players come through together, they’ve got an excellent coach, they’ve had all this preparation time and they’re just building on this squad.
“Their progress was quite impressive and they should have beaten Australia in that World Cup quarter-final. Ask anyone in Scotland.”
Lest he become guilty of talking his own team down, Jones concludes by explaining that, while his preparation time with the players has not been great, it should be enough to come up with a viable plan for countering the home team’s strengths at Murrayfield. “Scotland play a certain way; they’ve got certain characteristics. With two weeks’ preparation, they’re not going to be able to change a lot.
“We’ll have that knowledge, and I’m sure England had that knowledge in the past. At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to which side executes the best.”
And whichever side that is, you can be sure Jones will come out smiling.
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