Eddie Jones and Steve Hansen are ‘out of control megalomaniacs’ as All Blacks great warns of consequences for officiating tirades
Japan head coach Eddie Jones and former All Blacks boss Sir Steve Hansen.
Prominent New Zealand pundit Scotty Stevenson has slammed the “abhorrent behaviour” of top level coaches Eddie Jones and Sir Steve Hansen.
On Wednesday the Japan Rugby Football Union announced that their head coach had been slapped with a six-week suspension and a pay cut after comments made towards match officials last month.
Jones’ punishment came just a few days after All Blacks’ legendary coach Hansen criticised the officiating standards in the Japan Rugby League One.
Discussing the matter on Sport Nation’s Scotty and Izzy show, Stevenson was forthright in his view on the former Wallabies and England boss.
“He’s slipped down the pole and he’s brought shame and disrepute upon Japanese rugby and he should know better being half-Japanese himself,” he said.
All Blacks great’s view
Stevenson was joined on the show by All Blacks great Israel Dagg, who also weighed in.
“That’s one thing you don’t do in Japan… He’s taken it on the chin and I found it rather surprising that Eddie has apologised for those comments,” he said.
“This is not a great look, the head of your national side getting down there and abusing officials in front of everyone.”
Stevenson then linked it to Hansen’s recent tirade with the 2015 Rugby World Cup winner not escaping the ire of Stevenson.
“This is just another example of an out of control ego,” he said.
“Steve leaves his job with his team struggling in mid-table and then throws a grenade at the officials on the way out of the door and now Eddie Jones has been stood down, given a salary cut and effectively suspended for verbally abusing officials.
“These guys are supposed to be the paragons aren’t they? They’re supposed to be the men, the top dogs, the big fish. The problem is they believe that.”
Eddie Jones handed lengthy suspension and reduced salary after ‘serious’ discipline breach
It led to a wider discussion about officiating and how these outbursts from the top coaches can actually reduce standards rather than improve them.
“We’re in an interesting situation because following on from the weekend, probably in the NRL, definitely in Super Rugby, there’s a lot of chat about the officiating,” Dagg said.
“It’s an interesting scenario we have now with these officials and where we sit on the accountability side of things and to just understand they’re human, they’re not going to get everything right.
“There’s always going to be someone that’s happy with their performances out there on the park and there’s going to be the other side where a team loses and there’s a moment out there where it is a little bit controversial, and there’s going to be disappointment as well.
“We’ve got to be conscious that these guys are human, they’re not going to get everything exactly right and they’re going to make mistakes.
“If we continue down this line we’re going to be stuck in the same old problem where people aren’t going to want to officiate.”
‘That’s bullying’
Exactly what Jones said has not been revealed but what is for certain is that it is another case of a top coach undermining the officials.
“That behaviour, whatever he has said – he’s found it necessary to apologise and Japan Rugby have found it necessary to stand him down – is abhorrent from someone who enjoys an incredibly privileged position in this game,” Stevenson added.
“I think Steve Hansen is in the same boat. The quality of officiating in the Japan Rugby League One is not good enough in his opinion, then deal with it behind the scenes, don’t throw a grenade and shut the door behind you – that’s rubbish, that’s bullying.
“This is obviously another case of bullying. It has been long said that some coaches in this sport are, and especially international level, are out of control megalomaniacs, they really are, and they never get pinned down.”
