England rugby news: Eddie Jones sparks another club vs country row
GETTY Eddie Jones has weighed in on the club vs country row
Bath owner Bruce Craig was the latest to slam Jones’s regime after seeing five of his players injured in England camp, but the Australian insists Craig has no right to tell him how to do his job. Prop Beno Obano was the latest Bath casualty and could be out for a year after suffering a gruesome knee ligament injury at England’s recent get-together in Brighton. Anthony Watson, Tom Ellis, Sam Underhill and Dave Attwood have all been injured in Jones’s care and Sam Jones, the Wasps flanker, was forced to retire after suffering a leg and ankle injury wrestling at the notorious Brighton camp of 2016. Jack Nowell, George Kruis, Tom Curry and Jonny May have also been crocked on England training duty but the combative Jones says clubs are not qualified to instruct him on how to prepare a team.
GETTY Bath owner Bruce Craig is not happy with England
You never want to get players injured, you’re always looking to train appropriately for the game Eddie Jones
“We prepare players for Test matches,” said Jones. “I don’t think anyone at a club has the right to tell a coach how to train a Test team. “I don’t have any concerns. We train appropriately for Test match rugby. The only reason I’d alter it is if we need to train harder, or we need to train lighter, to be at our best for Test matches. “You never want to get players injured, you’re always looking to train appropriately for the game, but we play a collision sport. “The context of how we are going to train is the same as we did for the Australia and Argentina tours. We realise the players have played a number of games and the players will train appropriately.”
GETTY Beno Obano could be out for a year after injuring himself while on England duty
Worcester and Lions centre Ben Te’o was the latest to head to the operating theatre when he pulled out of the tour to South Africa after aggravating a thigh injury in the gym. Jones added: “He got the injury in the Six Nations against France, it is one of those corks and when you’ve got a cork you’ve always got damage to the muscle and sometimes they repair and sometimes they don’t. He’ll be back for the start of the season. “As you see on the tour, 17 players from the Lions and we’ve got nine available and a lot of those injuries have happened in games not training.” England fly to Durban via Johannesburg on Saturday and will be based on the east coast of South Africa for most of their trip as its climate is closest to Japan’s where next year’s World Cup will be held. Billy Vunipola will be on the plane after coming through an hour of action for Saracens in last weekend’s Premiership but Jones is sweating on whether the big No8 will be match fit for the first Test at Ellis Park June 9.
GETTY Eddie Jones' England are preparing for their tour of South Africa