England head coach Eddie Jones is sure to come in for more scrutiny when he faces the media in the wake of his derogatory remarks about Ireland and Wales coming to light.
Australian Jones apologised on Wednesday after footage emerged of him referring to Ireland as the “scummy Irish” and Wales as a “little s*** place”.
Jones was due to name his team to face NatWest 6 Nations champions Ireland at a media conference on Thursday morning at England’s training base at Pennyhill Park in Surrey.
The video shows Jones giving a talk on leadership for Fuso, the Japanese parent company of England sponsors Mitsubishi.
It was uploaded by Fuso to YouTube in July last year but has only come to light before Saturday’s final round of the 2018 Six Nations when England face Ireland at Twickenham.
Jones apologised for his comments on Wednesday evening and admitted his choice of words was inexcusable, saying he was “very sorry”. The Rugby Football Union said it would apologise to the Irish and Welsh unions.
In the talk, Jones told an audience: “We’ve played 23 Tests and have only lost one Test to the scummy Irish. I’m still dirty about that game. But we will get that back!
“We will get that back, don’t worry, we have them next year at home, we will get ’em back!”
Earlier in the talk, Jones discusses Japan Under-20s losing to their Welsh counterparts 125-0 shortly after he took over as Brave Blossoms head coach in 2012.
“Wales. Who knows Wales? Are there any Welsh people here? So it’s this little s*** place that has got three million people. Three million!” he said.
In his apology, released by the Rugby Football Union, Jones said: “I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused – no excuses and I shouldn’t have said what I did. I’m very sorry.”
Jones could be without Dylan Hartley and Elliot Daly for the game against Ireland after both emerged as injury doubts on Wednesday ahead of his team announcement.
