'No doubt' Eddie Jones and England will bomb at Rugby World Cup - Exeter chairman
Exeter Chairman Tony Rowe has predicted that Eddie Jones and his England team will bomb at the Rugby World Cup.
What's more, the outspoken boss says the RFU will not be welcome to Exeter DoR Rob Baxter after it happens.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Rugby Paper, Rowe said when he has 'no doubt' England will fail in Japan.
"You say 'if' (Eddie) bombs, but I have no doubt he will," Rowe told Neale Harvey. "I don't think we are strong enough. I can't see us getting to the final so Eddie Jones may go, but I'm fairly confident that Rob (Baxter), even if he's had that conversation, wouldn't be tempted away.
"Rob's had ten years in charge and he's been at Exter since I arrived 1993, so that's 26 years of his life with this team and he's the leader.
"I don't think he'll jump ship halfway through."
Baxter distanced himself from the role in December of 2018, telling Sky Sports Will Greenwood that: "Obviously it's an accolade and it's coaching at a high level. What would really excite me is working with a different group of players, some of the best players in the country which means that they're some of the best players in the world.
"Some of the players who are involved with England I'm a huge respecter of, and it would be fantastic to work with some of those guys. It would be fantastic to see what you could achieve against some of the best teams in the world.
"So there's loads of attractive reasons for it, but the attractive reasons have got to outweigh what you want in your life at any given time, and at the moment what I have in my life here in Exeter is more important to me."
Rowe's comments come after Eddie Jones named Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ben Moon, Henry Slade and Harry Williams in the official Rugby World Cup training squad. The injured Jack Nowell continues to recover back at the club.
However there was no place for Chiefs back Ollie Devoto.
Jones said: “World Cup selection is a four-year process. We have looked at the squad carefully, tried to build up a squad that has enough experience, attitude and energy to be winners and I think we have that. In the process, we have left out some players who can feel unlucky.
"For those guys who have missed out, the door is never closed but they have just got to be ready, as you never know when the opportunity comes.”
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Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
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