Eddie Jones’ mischievous response to Danny Care after former England scrum-half’s ‘dictatorship’ claim
Japan head coach and former England boss Eddie Jones, and ex-Test scrum-half Danny Care.
Eddie Jones has addressed Danny Care’s allegations in his own inimitable way, seemingly taking a bizarre swipe at the ex-England scrum-half.
The 64-year-old, who was the Red Rose head coach from 2016 to 2022, faced his former side for the first time at Twickenham since his sacking two years ago.
His Japan outfit did go head-to-head with England in Tokyo in June, but he had not been back at the ‘home of rugby’ until Sunday.
Ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, Care had claimed in his autobiography that Jones’ regime while England boss was a “dictatorship” and compared it to a “dystopian novel”.
Addressing the comments
It was therefore inevitable that the Australian would be asked about those comments, but he did not directly address the allegations.
Instead, Jones appeared to make a joke about possibly writing a book in regards to the ex-Test half-back, although he insisted that he was being “serious”.
“I signed it today. It’s called ‘Caring About Care’. You’ll get all the details in that. I’ve got pre-order forms, you can come up and leave your pre-order forms,” Jones said.
“I tried to do a deal with The Daily Mail but I haven’t come to an agreement yet. But if you want to read about it, there you go. It’ll be a good one.
“I’m very serious mate. If you want to read about it in my book. That’s how you get headlines. I’ve got a whole chapter about caring about Care.”
Danny Care: Eddie Jones’ England like a ‘dystopian novel’ as scrum-half opens up on ‘dictatorship’
Despite Jones’ success with England, particularly between 2016 and 2020, his tenure divided the supporters, with some disliking his approach.
There is still some ill-feeling towards the former head coach and, although the fans in general behaved themselves, the Japan boss revealed that there was one person who took it way too far.
“It wasn’t bad until some clown abused me going down to half-time,” Jones said. “But if there’s only one clown in 81,364, that’s not too bad. It wasn’t bad, apart from the result.
“He said something but I’m not going to repeat it here because I’ll get into trouble.”
Following that comment, the Rugby Football Union released a statement condemning that fan, which read: “No coaches, players or match officials should be abused for doing their job.”
Jones saw his side succumb 59-14 to England as the hosts ended their five-game losing streak following a convincing victory.
The former Red Rose boss was asked to give his assessment of Steve Borthwick’s men, who have suffered a number of agonising defeats in 2024.
Jones’ view of Borthwick’s England
“It’s one of those difficult periods [for England]. The team is obviously going through a transition. There are some good young players coming through,” he said.
“Chandler Cunningham-South is a good player, Tommy Freeman and Tom Roebuck are coming through. Ollie Lawrence is getting some consistency in his play. They’re in a sticky period where you might play against a good team and lose by one or two points.
Jones also stated that it can take time for players to get used to the Test arena and start performing at their potential, using Marcus Smith as an example.
The Brave Blossoms XV that faced England had just 211 caps between them, which perhaps partially explained the blowout at Twickenham on Sunday.
“It’s just time and lessons like this. When you’ve got 200 caps [in total], it means most players have played 10 Tests or less. You don’t have that collective adaptation,” Jones added.
“I look at Marcus today, having brought him in myself [with England] when he was young. Now he’s so confident in his decision-making. He’s composed, and he still has that bit of electricity. That’s what you get from playing 40 Tests.
“Because we [Japan] want to play differently, and faster, it puts more pressure on your skills. We’ve got to stick to it, there’s no magic solution.”
