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Eddie Jones likens Bath owner to Trump, slags off his hairstyle

By Ian Cameron
Eddie Jones

The war of words between England headcoach Eddie Jones and Bath Rugby owner Bruce Craig has deepened today after Jones likened him to Donald Trump, both in his behaviour and the way he looks.

Jones was speaking to the press in Durban, South Africa. England aim to topple South Africa in South Africa, but Jones was once again drawn on his on-going war of words with the Bath Rugby owner and tycoon.

Craig voiced his anger at the England training camp after prop Beno Obano was ruled out for next season after suffering a serious injury at an England camp.

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The prop suffered severe ligament damage in his left knee and was returned to his club for scans and further assessment confirmed that he is set to miss the entirety of the 2018/19 season as a result. According to Bath the prop suffered “multiple ligament and hamstring tendon damage” whilst attending England’s training camp in Brighton.

His injury was the latest in a long line of injuries during Eddie Jones tenure as head coach.

Last week Craig hit out at Jones, telling the Times that: “The level of injuries in these training camps is totally unacceptable. What is going on in the camp? There is obviously an issue because of the number of injuries. There has got to be significant questions asked about duty of care."

This has resulted in a back and forth between Jones and Craig, which heightened today with Jones making a personal attack on Craig himself.

“Bruce Craig sounds like the Donald Trump of rugby and has the same hairstyle,” Jones told today's press conference. “Everything we do is about training to get better, it is not about satisfying some guy in Bath who has got plenty of money and thinks he knows everything about rugby.

“If I knew that much, I would probably have as much money as him. Unfortunately, I don’t, so I will just stick to rugby.”

Jones has is known to train players very hard and many former players are questioning his policies.

Last week Lewis Moody stuck his oar in, stating: “The rumours you hear about Eddie are that he works his coaches very hard along with the players and you do have to ask if that is sustainable in the build up to a World Cup.

"England have had some serious success using Eddie’s formula but will it continue in the long run and you wonder if fatigue will hit the coaches and players.