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Controversial columnist Stephen Jones makes claim that's certain to upset Leinster fans
By Ian Cameron
Sunday Times columnist Stephen Jones is not one to shy away from issuing a strong opinion, even when it appears to fly in the face of popular opinion or even recent history.
Numerous Jones' articles have invoked the ire of New Zealanders, but he's also fond of the odd jab at the Irish too.
His latest dig came in the wake of Saracens' Premiership Final 27 - 10 victory over the Exeter Chiefs at Twickenham. Jones believes the newly crowned Premiership winners would beat Leinster, and by a solid margin too.
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The fact that Jones makes the claim despite Leinster dispatching Saracens comfortably just weeks earlier in the quarter-final of the European Champions Cup will rankle with some. Leinster went on to win that competition, all before being crowned the Pro14 Champions, after beating the Scarlets yesterday in the Aviva Stadium.
The Irish province became the first team outside of England and France to combine domestic glory with the continent’s top honour by overcoming the defending champions, who beat Leinster in the semi-finals en route to last year’s crown.
Asked by a fan on Twitter however, who would win should this Saracens team play Leinster and Jones was swift with a response: "Sarries by 12".
And he was quick to point out that was 'minimum' scoreline before suggesting 'easily, maybe more'.
RugbyPass columnist and former Ireland backrow Neil Best RT'd his claim, with the words "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."
Jones described Best's RT as pompous, before dismissing a suggestion by another Tweeter that Leinster were the best club side in the Northern Hemisphere as 'nothing like' the sort.
What has changed over the course of the lasts two months to suggest Saracens are now a significantly better team than Leinster and that a match between the sides would play out differently?
You'll have to ask Stephen Jones.
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Latest Comments
“Ranking managers age profile in a different sport is senseless.”
I agree - if you’d read the comments you were replying to you’d realise that was the point I was making. NB drew attention to the fact that in NBA and NFL coaches are getting older, and suggested the same would happen in rugby. I used the example of football to show that the same pattern isn’t true across sports.
“You’ve actually missed that Ferguson is actually a sporting paradox. 23 years at the helm and the bulk of his success was from the mid-later point of his career. It only proves experience is more important than age.”
Come on IkeaBoy - try to be coherent!
If Ferguson is a “sporting paradox”, then he obviously doesn’t prove anything.
As it happens, I don’t think he is a paradox. He was coaching at a time when experience was valued extremely highly - now it is valued less so.
“I was being polite in suggesting the comparison was not stable.”
it would be unstable if experience were not strongly correlated with age. Experience is strongly correlated with age, at least among the managers that I named.
Go to commentsThat’s not a bad point actually. The ABs did seem delighted to be on the min-break, holiday.
I’d have milked it too.
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