Jones says spy filmed England training, piles pressure on NZ

By Associated Press 22 October 2019, 12:00AM

TOKYO (AP) — England coach Eddie Jones believes his squad's training session at the Rugby World Cup on Tuesday was filmed by someone in a nearby apartment block.

Jones didn't explicitly accuse semifinal opponent New Zealand of spying — "it might have been a Japanese fan, I don't care," he said — and added that the viewer wouldn't have learnt anything new.

"You just don't need to do it anymore," Jones said. "You can see everything. You can watch everyone's training on YouTube. There's no value in doing that sort of thing, absolutely zero.

"Everyone knows what everyone does — there are no surprises in world rugby anymore. That's the great thing about the game, you just have to be good enough on the day."

One of the most experienced coaches in world rugby, Jones is known for throwing barbs ahead of big games and this may be an attempt to divert the pressure off his England players and onto the All Blacks.

"Put up your hand if you think we can win," he said to reporters, before adding: "There you go, so no one. No one thinks we can win. There are 120 million Japanese people out there whose second team are the All Blacks. So there's no pressure on us.

"We've just got to have a great week, enjoy it, relax. Train hard and enjoy this great opportunity we've got. Whereas (the All Blacks) have got to be thinking about how they're looking for their third (consecutive) World Cup and so that brings some pressure."

Jones added that the "busiest bloke in Tokyo this week" will be Gilbert Enoke, New Zealand's mental skills coach.

"They have to deal with all this pressure of winning the World Cup three times (in a row) and it is potentially the last game for their greatest coach and their greatest captain, and they will be thinking about those things," Jones said.

"Those thoughts go through your head. It is always harder to defend a World Cup and they will be thinking about that and therefore there is pressure."

___

More AP Rugby World Cup: https://www.apnews.com/RugbyWorldCup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

Steve Douglas is at www.twitter.com/sdouglas80

By Associated Press 22 October 2019, 12:00AM

Trending Stories

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>