"You’re fat, you’re lazy" - England star reveals Eddie Jones x-rated rant

England head coach Eddie 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.”

The former England fullback has placed Eddie Jones’ man-management under scrutiny after claiming he was on the receiving end of a foul-mouthed rant from the head coach when being told he was not going to the 2019 World Cup.

“I said to him, ‘Look, I understand selection is what it is, but don’t put it on that. You haven’t even asked me what happened. With all due respect, I didn’t really do anything. I don’t feel like it was my fault. I hadn’t drunk much, two drinks or whatever. There were people in a worse state than me and I was just trying to mind my own business’.

“So he just switched and turned on me, effing and blinding. It wasn’t nice.

“Just be a man and say what is the reason I’m not getting picked. Don’t try to put it on that, because it’s not that. It’s pretty clear and obvious that it’s not that.

“I asked him to tell me what he thinks happened and he said, ‘My security guards were there, they told me what happened’.

“I said, ‘Let me see what they’ve said has happened’, because he said he had written reports. He wouldn’t give me that.

“He said, ‘Who the F do you think you are?’ because I was going back at him and he doesn’t like that.

“It’s a shame it ended up like that. I wanted clarity on why I wasn’t getting picked, not some made-up excuse.”

Former England start Kyran Bracken was the first person to reveal why the Quins playmaker was mysteriously frozen out of Jones plans in 2018 despite being a regular up until that point.

“He (Care) made the mistake of speaking his mind to Eddie Jones and questioning how he wanted him to play when he was playing with an England ‘B’ team against Japan in the autumn of 2018,” revealed the former England scrum-half.

“Eddie’s response to that was ‘that’s not the f***ing attitude I want’ and he binned him from his plans.”

This story was later backed up by England and Harlequins teammate Mike Brown in his column for the Mail Online with Care confirming he's been blacklisted

DID YOU KNOW? At age 11 he was invited to join the Academy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which meant giving up club rugby union for a few years

A knee injury prevented Hartley from travelling to Japan for the 2019 World Cup and effectively ended his England career.

The phone call he received from Eddie Jones was brutal, Hartley revealed.

"You're f***ed mate," Jones told Hartley, despite the hooker's plea for a chance to prove his fitness.

"Even by the standards of the 6am texts he delivers while running on the treadmill, which make the recipient’s balls tighten and the brain melt, this phone call was brutal," writes Hartley in his book.

"He was effectively ending my England career with three words."

Kiwi-born England hooker Dylan Hartley recalled Yarde arriving at England’s Pennyhill base, “a bit bruised and battered” after a club game.

“Eddie greeted him with a bright ‘How are you feeling, mate?’ and the conversation quickly went downhill. ‘Oh, a bit tired.’ ‘F… off, mate.’ ‘What?’ ‘If you’re tired, f… off. I don’t want tired players here.’ As you can imagine, their cosy fireside chat echoed around the halls within minutes.”

He never played for England again.

Woodward then revealed he met with Bill Sweeney following England’s defeat in the 2019 World Cup final.

“I got a call from Sweeney, who I had only met a few times, inviting me for a few beers and an informal debrief of the World Cup. I had seen the knockout stages first-hand and had also witnessed the final week’s preparation — a serious lesson in how not to prepare.

“I took my trusty notebook with me, in which I had jotted down a long list of bullet points on the flight home from Japan. Some minor but some crucial and in the spirit of constructive cooperation I offered them up to Bill. Some were clearly uncomfortable for him as he was also partly to blame.

“About 45 minutes after I left the pub, I got a foul-mouthed text from Jones berating me for my views. I was gobsmacked and more than annoyed. It had been a private session with Sweeney over a few beers but straight after the two of them had obviously spoken."