Twickenham boos will ‘put me to sleep at night’, Jones claims

England head coach Eddie Jones claimed to be unconcerned by the boos that greeted his on-field interview following the home defeat to Ireland.

Ireland won 24-15 to seal the Six Nations Grand Slam and inflict a third defeat of the tournament on England, who had lost only one of their first 25 Tests under the Australian.

Asked about the jeers that accompanied his post-match remarks at Twickenham on Saturday, Jones said: “Get me a recording, it’ll put me to sleep at night.

“The only thing I can control is coaching the team. I will do that to the best of my ability.

“In Japan I couldn’t read the press, so it didn’t matter,” he added, referring to his previous job.

England’s objective under Jones is to try and win the World Cup next year, and the coach is adamant the team’s struggles in recent weeks are a necessary part of the process. 

“It’s almost unfortunately something you have to have,” he said. You never really find out about yourselves unless you have these runs.

“Every team that I’ve had that’s been a champion team has had a run like this, which has been instrumental in how you re-make a team.

“When you take over a team like England, it’s quite easy to improve them quickly. There are certain things you can go to, certain mechanisms that you can fix quickly.

“But there are other internal mechanisms that take time to fix. They are slow-burners, but unless you fix them they catch up with you when you get to a big tournament like the World Cup.

Still developing, still moving forward…

Eddie reflects on #ENGvIRE: https://t.co/ZC6PYGDNvj pic.twitter.com/8FOj5YtJZz

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 17, 2018

“We weren’t happy being the team we were… we knew we weren’t good enough to get where we wanted to get.

“We knew we had to change the team, and sometimes that hurts. That’s what we’re going through.”

Jones also revealed the underwhelming performances of certain players in this tournament would be likely to count against them in the future.

“Some guys have come in and done really well – others are probably going to struggle to participate in the future,” he said.

“We have to get a greater depth to our squad, and a depth who can play Test rugby.

“There are some guys who are starting off their international careers, they need time. We just have to decide if we have the time to get them ready for the World Cup.”

KEO.co.za News wire is powered by opta