Show me a man who wouldn’t have his head turned by bag and bags of RFU cash and I’ll show you Joe Schmidt.
However most of us are human and, if offered all that filthy lucre, would probably take off that blazered hand up as far as the elbow.
So fair play to Eddie Jones for signing a four-year deal with the RFU, replacing Stuart Lancaster in the hottest of European rugby hot seats.
The thing is Jones only signed up with South African Super Rugby outfit in September and has sat in front of quite a few microphones in the meantime saying reassuring things to Stormers fans.
Such as: “I want to create an environment where players don’t leave the Stormers for big European money offers.”
That was one week before Jones left the Stormers for the biggest of European money offers. One week.
Eddie Jones has been named as the England Head Coach on a four year deal. https://t.co/AGfM9hbqTM pic.twitter.com/0fDYXDbcn6
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) November 20, 2015
Oh well, as we said, big bags of money and all that. At least he is also motivated by the work, yeah?
“The Six Nations is a dour affair and is built on the foundation of not allowing the opposition to score points. On the flipside, the Rugby Championship is all about scoring more points than the opposition,” Jones told ESPN three days ago.
“The best example is to compare and contrast Italy and Argentina. Italy have been part of the Six Nations for 16 years and their rugby has basically regressed
“Whereas Argentina have featured in the Rugby Championship for four years and their game – in particular their ability and execution on attack – has grown exponentially.”
Okay, so the main competition he will compete in has its flaws, but the England set-up is top-notch, surely?
“Wales, Ireland and Scotland – unlike England, Italy and France – all have centralised contracting systems,” said the former Japan coach, int he same interview three days ago.
“The union controls the players. As a consequence, they produced competitive teams and vibrant performances at the recent World Cup.
“Everywhere in the world, I believe a nation wants its own home-grown coaches but you can see there is a trend developing.
“Countries are increasingly looking for the best coaches irrespective of nationality because they require the optimum results.”
That explains a lot.
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