#5. Zach Mercer
Jones told a back-rower Zach Mercer he was “fat and lazy” in X-rated rant before he made his international debut.
“I remember the first phone call I had with him. He actually rang me and goes ‘Mate, Eddie here,’ and I’m like ‘Oh, hi.'” recalled Mercer during his appearance on the RugbyPass Offload podcast.
“I wasn’t playing for Bath that long. And he was like: ‘Mate. Do you want to play for England?’ and I’m like ‘yeah.’ And Eddie goes: ‘Well you effing don’t look like you want to play for England. You’re fat, you’re lazy.’ I was like ‘Oh, my god’ and go ‘Yeah,’ and the phone call’s done. That’s it. It’s over.
“I think he respects me a lot more that I took this opportunity and have gone to France because I wanted to develop my game. I think he looks at me slightly differently than he did before.
“I really enjoy speaking to Eddie when I get the opportunity. He tells me how it is and he doesn’t beat around the bush. I would love to play under him again at some point.”