Joe Marler recalled a conversation he had with one of Eddie Jones’ assistants when it was suggested, around the hour mark, he might be replaced during a summer tour against South Africa in 2018.
“It was about 50 or 60 minutes in the last Test and Wisey – Scott Wisemantle – came on and he was like, ‘Mate, boss says you’ve got five more minutes’.
“And I was like, ‘Wisey, you can tell him to get f***ed!’
“And Wisey was like, eh, I’m not going to do that Joe, and then he ran off with the waters.
“So we carried on about another 10 minutes and Wisey comes back on – ‘Boss says last effort, mate. Last couple of minutes’.
“I said, ‘Wisey, honestly, you’ve got the mic on now. Tell the boss, ‘Get f***ed!’ I’m staying on, mate. we’re seeing this f***ing job out.“
In that final 10 minutes, England added 10 more points to their score to win comfortably against the hosts. Marler can’t tell for sure if Jones ever got the full extent of his message but he reckons the Aussie did.
“I was shattered. A brilliant finish to the game but I was done. I had made my decision (to retire) and was sat there on one of the stools, with the boys, at the after-match function. Got a glass of red and someone taps me on the shoulder. It was Eddie.
“He goes, ‘F***ing love that’.
“I’m like, ‘What?’
“‘F***ing love that. You know, you know!'”
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Eddie Jones has named his best XV with Joe Marler included
BACK-THREE:
- 15. Anthony Watson (England)
- 14. Bryan Habana (South Africa)
- 11. Lote Tuqiri (Australia)
CENTRES:
- 13. Stirling Mortlock (Australia)
- 12. Manu Tuilagi (England)
