Dylan Hartley has just revealed that Eddie Jones got players to select their own starting team
Former England captain Dylan Hartley has revealed that Eddie Jones was made England players unknowingly select themselves for an England rugby match.
Hartley was speaking on RugbyPass’ new ‘RugbyPass Offload’ podcast where himself, Simon Zebo and Christina Mahon were reviewing the Champions Cup final and previewing the final of the Premiership.
In this episode, he told a story about how Eddie Jones did not tell his players the starting team for their upcoming match at the weekend, so the then England captain had to ask Eddie what was going on.
When he asked Eddie what was happening, this is what he said happened.
“Eddie said, ‘ah shit… have I not named the team?’. The next day we go to training on the Friday, and he had laid out all the bibs, 1 to 15 on the floor. And he goes ‘Right, I haven’t named the team. Go stand where you think you should be…’.”
Can you imagine a coach asking you to do that?! Dylan Hartley spoke very openly about Eddie Jones here.
In other news: Ford out of England Squad
George Ford has been ruled out of the England Quilter Cup clash against the Barbarians this weekend, but Eddie Jones has bolstered his squad with a trio of Bristol players.
Fly-half Ford was named in the initial 32-man England squad on Tuesday, but has now withdrawn with what the Rugby Football Union called a “pre-existing achilles issue”. No timescale has yet been put on his recovery.
Jones has been able to add to his group, though, calling up Kyle Sinckler, Ben Earl and, for the first time, Max Malins.
Malins offers cover and a new option at No10, Earl brings further depth to the pool of flankers and World Cup finalist Sinckler adds plenty of experience to the front row department.
The trio had originally been left out due to uncertainty over Bristol’s potential role in the Gallagher Premiership final.
