1
'He has been so good for me': Beauden Barrett lapping up recent advice from England boss Eddie Jones
By AAP
Eddie Jones has received the backing of one of rugby's biggest superstars - two-time world player of the year Beauden Barrett - after escaping the sack as England coach at the end of a disastrous Six Nations campaign. The New Zealander agreed that Jones remains the best man to lead England out of the doldrums. Barrett has benefited from the former Wallabies coach's holiday stint advising Suntory Sungoliath in the Japanese Top League.
Jones, who has been a consultant for Suntory for almost 20 years, is using annual leave for his latest trip to Japan, and star fly-half Barrett is hanging off his every word. "He's more in the background dealing with the coaches a lot but certainly when he does offer advice to the players, it's really good advice," Barrett said on a call from Tokyo on the latest edition of The Breakdown.
"It's nice to hear from someone who is not there on a daily (basis), who is outside looking over the top of things, and it is good information that he gives. With my dealings, he has been so good for me. When he does have something to tell me, they are like little pieces of gold. His understanding of the game is exceptional."
The All Blacks playmaker has no doubt Jones can return England to its former position as one of the game's superpowers. "They have got the talent there. I'm sure they will work it out," he said. "They figured it out against us in the (2019 World Cup) semi-final. I guess he has copped a bit at the moment but I'm confident he will turn things around there."
The RFU last week said Jones retained the union's full support following a full review of England's worst finish in 45 years. That was despite chief executive Bill Sweeney previously refusing to rule out activating a break clause in the Australian's contract.
The RFU allowed Jones' trip to Japan but is demanding England's results improve after stopping short of backing him through to the 2023 World Cup in France. The review revealed that overall feedback from the players was positive but insisted that the fifth-place Six Nations finish was well below expectations. "We were all disappointed to finish fifth in the Six Nations," Sweeney said. "Our track record and results under Eddie meant that we, the players and our fans had much higher expectations.
"Sport is all about fine margins which is why every campaign debrief is invaluable in helping us to learn and improve. Eddie approached this review with a great deal of self-awareness and humility, allowing us to look at every aspect of the tournament to identify every small change we can make in order to improve."
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Wallaroos captain reflects on Black Ferns’ success with sevens stars
3
Springboks flyhalf's latest injury worry
4
Initial Immanuel Feyi-Waboso injury update does not sound promising
5
Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
Go to comments