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'Clowns' - Eddie Jones again clashes with fans, this time in NZ
By Ian Cameron
Eddie Jones had another confrontation with fans, this time following the Wallabies' loss to the All Blacks in Dunedin over the weekend.
A 79th minute penalty goal to New Zealand broke Wallaby hearts as Australia went down 23-20. Tries to Marika Koroibete and Tom Hooper in the opening ten minutes gave the Wallabies a 17-3 lead into the break before the home side hit back via debutants Shaun Stevenson and Samipeni Finau to take the lead into the final quarter.
Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper levelled the game with seven minutes to go, only for Mo'unga's late strike to give the hosts the win.
Jones blasted a group of local fans as 'clowns' following the narrow loss.
In an interview with Sky Sports NZ Jeff Wilson after the game, Jones blasted the fans standing behind him in the stands as the interview was conducted.
"These clowns over here, I'm going to go and have a chat with them," Jones railed. "They're not good supporters and they should behave better than that.
"It's quite disrespectful. It's disappointing. Dunedin is a good rugby city. You shouldn't have clown like that behaving like that."
Jones made headlines today as he left long-time Australia captain Michael Hooper out of his 33-man squad for the World Cup. Flanker Hooper – the Wallabies’ fourth most capped player with 125 appearances – missed his country’s last three Tests after picking up a calf injury in training.
Centre Len Ikitau, who suffered a broken shoulder in last month’s defeat to Argentina, and Quade Cooper are other notable absentees.
The former England boss selected Will Skelton as captain and included uncapped trio Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Max Jorgensen and Blake Schoupp in a group containing 25 World Cup debutants.
additional reporting PA
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Latest Comments
Van Graan for England manager!!
Go to commentsTen years ago we were discussing how
Australia had made the Giteu Law and how we didn’t have to to do anything like that because NZ produced more talent than Australia.
The current model only works if you are constantly producing players good enough to take over when players leave.
New Zealand will struggle to do this as time goes on because rugby is dying here at the grass roots level.
Rugby league, football, basketball are where young kids are choosing to go more and more.
Even combat sports such as jiu jitsu are rapidly gaining in popularity all the time.
Picking players from overseas will give us a sugar hit of success for a wee while…. But the crash
afterward could be Wales-like.
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