Former England boss Eddie Jones once berated a coach in public, only to later apologise with what appeared to be a peace offering—a steak.
However, when the coach arrived home and opened the bag, he discovered sausages and a note that read, "You’re not ready for steak. You’re a sausage. Up your game."
This story, originally shared on the RugbyPass Offload podcast, was recounted by Wasps legend Joe Simpson. He described how the assistant coach was initially deceived into thinking Jones was making amends after publicly reprimanding him for a mistake during training.
Simpson said: "He's given a coach an absolute rollicking in a meeting before, earlier in the day.
"[Jones] calls him up later on and is like, 'look, I want to apologise to you, the way I spoke to you, blah blah blah, in front of everyone in front of the coaches meeting'. He [the coach] was like, 'fair enough'.
"[Jones said] 'I bought you a steak. You take it home and you eat it with your missus, you enjoy yourself' – just an apology.
"The bloke goes home and says to his wife, 'that was bizarre, he's given me a steak'. So they get it out and there's just a pack of sausages in there.
"He thinks that's weird and gets a text from [Jones] later being like: 'You're not ready for steak, you're a sausage. Up your game'.
"He's like, 'how do I carry on this job if I'm getting abused by my boss?' But if you look at the turnover he's had in coaches, if coaches want to get out of their contract they can go to HR and say, 'these are all the emails and text messages that I've got from Eddie, I want to get out of this contract immediately, and they'll be like, 'oh, ok, we'll keep it hush, you can leave slightly earlier if you want'."
Eddie Jones named his five worst England call-ups, he wasn’t impressed with Ollie Lawrence
From the era of Curry and Underhill, to the dynamic duo of Itoje and Genge, Eddie Jones had exhibited remarkable skill in selecting the ideal players across the pitch since assuming the helm in 2015.
Nevertheless, not every player he called up managed to make a lasting impact.
#5. Denny Solomona
His England career began with the definition of a ‘bang’ – a dream first run out in the England shirt, he came off the bench to score a last-minute winner in a dramatic 38-34 win against Argentina in San Juan on June 10, 2017.
Jones said: "There’s something about him, he finds the [try] line and you like wingers who find the line. I think he’s got that X factor, whatever you want to call it.”
However, two months later, Solomona was sent home from England’s training camp in disgrace after returning drunk to the team hotel. The winger would win just three more caps, failing to score in any of them with Jones questioning the speedster's character. Not what we all expected after a stunning debut.
RUCK VERDICT: He has vowed to put his off-field problems behind him. His Premiership form before lockdown earned him some admirers – time for an international recall? You never know.
4. Gary Graham
Jones said: “Graham reminds me a bit of Robshaw so he’s not an out and out seven but he’s a good tough boy. He’s got a nice demeanour about him, [and is] hungry, so very impressive.”
Ultimately, the back-rower went onto play for Scotland instead.
3. Jack Clifford
Back in 2015, Eddie Jones tipped the versatile Harlequins back-rower as 'the real deal' and tipped him to captain England at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
However, following years of problems, Clifford was forced to retire at the age of 27 because of injury last August.
He won 10 international caps after making his England debut in Jones first game in charge against Scotland at Murrayfield in 2016.
RUCK VERDICT: To think he played over 100 games for Harlequins and 10 games for England in an eight-year career where he was effectively injured for four years shows how valued he was by anyone who coached him. Simply unlucky.
2. Ollie Lawrence
Playing for England over 210 minutes in his four caps under Jones, Lawrence made one kick, two passes, nine runs for a total of five metres, and 20 tackles. It's been very disappointing.
Jones said: "It's been disappointing for him and us so far.
"Scotland was a difficult game for Ollie, but he’s a young guy who is learning his trade. This is all part of learning his trade.:
Jones went onto slam Lawrence ins autobiography, writing: ": “He’s [Lawrence] still a kid, only 21, but the way that some of the media raves about him you would think he’s already assured of becoming one of the best players in the world.
“He might do that, one day, but his attitude was not hungry or disciplined enough.”
RUCK VERDICT: Despite his disappointing start to his international career, the immensely talented Lawrence has remerged under Steve Borthwick
1. Danny Cipriani
Jones wrote his autobiography: "When a player consistently does stupid things, you don't expect him to change much. Players make choices and they have to live with the consequences.
“I was willing to see what Cipriani could do – despite often feeling frustrated because even the rugby reporters wanted to talk about him more than any other player.
“From Danny’s perspective his cause was done more damage when he played for Gloucester against Saracens. It was billed as a showdown between Farrell and Cipriani, but it was no contest. Saracens and Farrell were dominant. It was very disappointing.”
RUCK VERDICT: The most talented player of a generation, Cipriani would have won over 50 caps for almost any other country. A special player who will hopefully be back on the pitch soon after leaving Gloucester.
