Former England scrum-half Danny Care has given a revealing insight into the regime under Eddie Jones.
The Australian is renowned as a hard taskmaster but, in his new book, Everything Happens for a Reason: My Life in Rugby, Care has discussed the sheer brutality of his methods.
In an extract, which was published in The Times, the Harlequins star claimed how Jones ruled by fear during his time in the England hot-seat.
‘Bloody terrified of him’
“We used to say to each other, ‘Just remember, boys, everything’s a test,’ as if we were characters in a dystopian novel. We’d get given a form to fill out and we’d have to say to any new boys, ‘Don’t put anything on there that he could use against you’,” Care wrote.
“If the form asked how you felt, you’d say you felt fine, even if your leg was falling off. Because if you didn’t, you’d be worried about Eddie calling you into his office and asking if you wanted to go home.
“Did Eddie rule by fear? Of course he did, everyone was bloody terrified of him. Jonny May probably summed up the situation best: he’d walk in for breakfast, head down, muttering, ‘Expect anything today, boys, expect anything …’”
Jones took over following their 2015 Rugby World Cup failure, which saw them become the first hosts to exit at the pool stage.
He guided them to successive Six Nations titles in 2016 and 2017, and a record-equalling run of 18 successive Test wins.
They also reached the 2019 World Cup final, but it started to unravel in the next four-year cycle and his tenure eventually ended in December when he was sacked in December 2022.
“Eddie took the same approach to rugby as Russia traditionally takes to war: just keep feeding men into the grinder, as long as we keep winning”, Care wrote.
The scrum-half also described Jones’ regime as “like living in a dictatorship, under a despot who disappeared people.”
Test-match Tuesdays
He added: “We called Tuesdays ‘Test-match Tuesdays’ because it would always be a ridiculously hard session. After one of these sessions, Eddie wandered up to the Northampton Saints prop Kieran Brookes and asked, ‘How did you find it?’ Brooksy was a gentle giant, just a nice, softly spoken lad with no side to him, and he replied, ‘Yeah, it was tough, but I enjoyed it. I feel good.’ Eddie shot back, ‘You’ve obviously not worked f***ing hard enough, mate.’
“After the following week’s Tuesday Test-match session, Eddie wandered up to Brooksy and asked him the same question. Brooksy thought for a moment, then replied, ‘Absolutely exhausted, one of the hardest sessions I’ve ever done.’ To which Eddie responded, ‘You’re obviously not f***ing fit enough, mate.’ He could be excruciatingly cutting.”
Although Jones’ methods initially got results, Care did not feel that it resulted in a harmonious squad as players fended for themselves in an attempt to keep their spots.
“It was every man for himself in Eddie’s training camps. You got your head down, gritted your teeth, said nothing and hoped you stayed in the room. That isn’t a healthy environment, because it breeds selfishness, not camaraderie, and it rewards yes-men rather than people who are willing to question things,” he wrote.
“But whether it’s a healthy environment or not, Eddie made it work for a while. Eddie always had a group of six or seven untouchables — Youngsy [Ben Youngs], Owen Farrell, George Ford, Dan Cole, Maro Itoje, Billy Vunipola (and his brother Mako for a while) — but the rest of us were expendable, which meant we lived by different rules.
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“Some lads had the attitude, To hell with everyone else, as long as the coach likes me, which I couldn’t get my head around. Other lads would pretend to be fit to play when they weren’t. Then again, if saying all the right things and feigning fitness meant earning a few hundred grand a year and maybe paying off your mortgage, what do you expect? When England were winning games, which they almost always did in the first two years of Eddie’s reign, it was easier to excuse his bad behaviour.
“But when performances started to slip, as they did in the 2018 Six Nations, when we managed only two wins and finished fifth, Eddie’s abrasiveness really began to jar. Analysts would be visibly shaking during presentations because they were so scared of getting something wrong.
“If a clip didn’t appear at the right moment, Eddie would fix them with a menacing stare and say,
‘What the f*** are you doing, mate? You’re not preparing the f***ing team right.’ A few players would snigger, then feel bad about doing so. And after we’d all filed out of the room, we’d hear Eddie continuing to berate them. Those analysts worked bloody hard, but some of them ended up as shells of their former selves.”
Care’s axing
As one of those who stood up to Jones, it did not end well for Care, who was dropped following their victory over Japan in 2018 and was not seen again for four years.
The 37-year-old revealed his version of that confrontation which ultimately almost led to the end of his international career.
“We hadn’t played great against Japan in November 2018 — the fans had booed us off at half-time, which is never a good sign — but we’d dug deep for the win. Eddie didn’t seem too concerned, although he told us to have a couple of days off at home before the game against Australia the following weekend. That wasn’t a very Eddie Jones thing to do, so I probably should have known that something strange was afoot,” he explained.
“Having enjoyed a bonus Sunday with the family, I’d just put my son Blake to bed when I saw I had a missed call. I remember the voicemail as clear as day: ‘Danny, Eddie here. Didn’t think you were sharp enough at the weekend, I don’t need you this week. Cheers.’ Short and in no way sweet.
“I was livid. How had I gone from being one of only two scrum halves in the squad to being bumped completely? I’d worked insanely hard for four weeks, and been part of a win over South Africa and a narrow defeat by New Zealand.
“Actually, I’d worked insanely hard for Eddie for three years, and he thought a three-second voicemail was the right way to drop me. I should have been used to Eddie’s games by then, but this really didn’t sit well with me.
“I wanted to have it out with Eddie this time, but I’d seen what had happened to guys who’d challenged him in the past — they invariably got binned, never to be seen again. I asked my wife Jodie what she thought I should do, and she said, “Go and speak to him. Be honest, say you don’t understand his rationale and you feel a bit hurt. Surely he’ll hear you out?”
“Jodie was right. I’d spent too long not standing up for other people when I’d seen Eddie belittling them, but I should at least stand up for myself. Besides, he couldn’t get angry if I just asked why he’d dropped me.
“I had to clear out my hotel room so that one of the other boys could move in. I called Eddie and asked if I could see him, and he told me to come and find him in his office. I girded my loins and made my way to the dragon’s lair.
“‘Eddie,’ I said, ‘I just feel that dropping me is a bit harsh. I don’t understand how I can go from starting against Japan to not being involved at all. We’ve done well over the last few weeks. We beat South Africa, we nearly beat New Zealand. The Japan game was always going to be tough because we changed a lot of players. And Japan played well. But we still managed to get back into it and win the game.’
“I thought I’d made my case quite eloquently, but Eddie just said, ‘That’s a s*** attitude, mate. That’s justified my decision.’
“I was momentarily dumbstruck. Then I said, ‘I don’t think I’ve got a s*** attitude. Actually, I’ve got a good attitude. I’ve never once complained about not starting. And I’ve contributed a lot to this team since you came in. I just don’t think I played that badly to warrant you dropping me.’
“Eddie narrowed his eyes and said, ‘Nah, s*** attitude, mate. You’ve got to get better.’ Suddenly, I wasn’t so punchy. I told Eddie that he was right about me not having my best game and that I could give him more.
“But I still had bit of fight left in me. ‘I just think I deserved more than a three-second voicemail,’ I said. ‘I thought we had a better relationship than that.’ There was a pause, before Eddie said, ‘Whatever, mate. Go back and play for your club and we’ll see if you can get back in the room.’”
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