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Eddie Jones suffers Twickenham defeat as Barbarians boss
By Online Editors
England coach Eddie Jones’ spell at the helm of the Barbarians was an unsuccessful one as his team lost 33-31 to Fiji at Twickenham.
Mathieu Bastareaud and Andre Esterhuizen provided early tries for the Baa-Baas, but Fiji claimed a first-half lead with Enele Malele and Teti Tela both adding converted tries to the scoreboard.
John Dyer protected that dominance when opening the second half with a try that was duly converted by Tela.
The Barbarians responded with an effort from Makazole Mapimpi, but Curwin Bosch’s conversion fell short.
Fiji then hit back as Asaeli Tikoirotuma fed the ball to Temo Mayanavanua, who consequently claimed a try that was again converted by Tela.
The Baa-Baas’ attempts to draw level were then stunted as two quick-fire efforts were both disallowed.
Tendai Mtawarira saw his effort voided after replays showed that the ball had slipped from his hands as he crossed the line.
Esterhuizen’s attempt at a second try was also scrubbed off as he was deemed to have been just short of the line upon closer inspection.
Instead, it was Fiji who tightened their grasp on the game when Dyer struck again and the conversation was deftly handled by Tela.
The Barbarians mounted a late comeback, with Mapimpi crossing in the 77th minute and Morne Steyn matching his effort with a try immediately afterwards.
Steyn kicked the conversion himself after three missed attempts from fly-half Bosch, but the points gained were not enough to close the gap and Fiji were triumphant – claiming the Killik Cup.
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Latest Comments
The England backs can't be that dumb, he has been playing on and off for the last couple of years. If they are too slow to keep up with him that's another matter.
He was the only thing stopping England from getting their arses handed to them in the Aussie game. If you can't fit a player with that skill set into an England team then they are stuffed.
Go to commentsSteve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
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