Rugby World Cup 2019: Watch Eddie Jones’s extraordinary England press conference amid spying allegations
England boss claimed someone was spying on their Tuesday training session and took a swipe at the ‘biased’ Kiwi media in what was an eventful and unexpected press conference appearance
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Your support makes all the difference.Eddie Jones held an extraordinary press conference on Tuesday in Japan in which he revealed someone had been spotted spying on his training session, launched a verbal attack on the New Zealand media and claimed that his England side are under no pressure whatsoever ahead of Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final because “no one expects us to win”.
Jones made the surprise decision to appear at England’s first press conference since they arrived back in Tokyo, with Tuesday’s slot normally allocated to one of his four assistant coaches.
Instead, Jones appeared alongside defence coach John Mitchell as well as captain Owen Farrell, and clearly had a few things on his mind that he wanted to say.
After issuing an update on Jonny May and Jack Nowell – who are both in a race to be fit for the semi-final clash with the All Blacks – as well as play down injury fears over back-up scrum-half Willi Heinz – the 59-year-old expanded on why he believes the pressure is all on New Zealand this weekend.
The England head coach then revealed that someone had been seen watching England’s training session in Chuba, joking that he also had someone watching New Zealand’s session nearby, before turning his attentions to the Kiwi media in attendance.
Jones also asked for a flash poll of who in the room believed England could beat New Zealand this weekend and reach the World Cup final, though gave journalists little time to think before claiming that they had been written off.
The eventful session concluded with Jones offering his thoughts on whether he needs to make changes to his team selection depending on the differing threats that the All Blacks pose to Australia, with the matchday squad due to be announced on Thursday morning in the United Kingdom.
Watch the video above to hear every word of what Jones had to say.
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