Alex Goode offers stark insight into life under brutal Eddie Jones as Danny Care comments go viral

Today at 12:11 PM

Alex Goode has criticised ex-England boss Eddie Jones over his ‘malicious’ management style having been frozen out of selection under his tenure.

The Saracens legend, who was crowned European Player of the Year in 2019, wasn’t favoured by Jones during his seven-year spell in charge of the Red Rose.

Goode’s England career came to a premature halt in 2016 after being consistently overlooked – just a year after Jones replaced Stuart Lancaster in the dugout at Twickenham.

And the 36-year-old spoke to talkSPORT on Tuesday about his relationship with Jones, who he had also worked with briefly at Saracens prior to him becoming England boss.

He reflected on bombshell comments made by ex-England teammate Danny Care on Jones in his new autobiography, ‘Everything Happens for a Reason’.

In the book, Care details how Goode’s England career came to a swift end following a disagreement with Jones, which led to him being ‘never seen again’.

While other passages in the book saw Jones criticised over his management style, where the Australian would berate and belittle players and fellow members of his coaching staff, while also accusing him of ruling by fear.

Reflecting on Care’s anecdote about himself, Goode, who will be retiring at the end of the season, quipped: “Lucky me, I made it into the book!”

Before adding: “I think Danny has actually spoken pretty fairly there.

“A lot of the bits about Eddie’s behaviour or how he was with players, coaches has been highlighted and been up on social media everywhere.

“Ultimately it’s difficult and, while I didn’t exactly get on quite well with him – a lot of players didn’t – or didn’t think that well of him as a person, he was a brilliant coach in the sense he was the most successful England manager stats wise.

“He came in in a pretty tough time after we’d been knocked out of the World Cup at the group stages and he pushed everyone hard.

“But we won a Grand Slam in the first year, we won the Six Nations in the second year, he took us to the World Cup final.

“And I think over time, perhaps the amount of staff that went so quickly, he obviously pushed people maybe too hard potentially.

“But he got the best out of a lot of players, because a lot of players played their best rugby [under Jones] and England were very successful.

“So while I don’t necessarily agree with some of the way he treated people and how he spoke to people, he was obviously a very good coach and his record does speak for itself in that sense.”

Having been a technical adviser at Saracens where Goode played his club rugby, he was initially excited at perhaps an increased number of Test appearances.

“But it didn’t quite pan out that way,” he continued. “While I think of him tactically as a brilliant coach and he obviously did a lot for English rugby, it’s one man’s opinion.

“He didn’t want to pick me, and that’s the same he had for a lot of people, but that’s also team sport, it’s been happening for a number of years.

“There’s always someone who thinks that they should be picked – certainly my mum thinks I should have been picked!

“But unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way, but I think some of the bits that I saw were too far and some of the way he treated people.

“Especially when it was wasn’t necessary, it wasn’t a motivation tactic, it was more of a personal spite or malicious nature. I don’t think anyone would have liked to see that, it was probably too far.

“But tactically, he was very good and he drove people to get the best out of them and motivated people that got the best out of a group and he was highly successful in that first four years particularly.”

Pressed as to whether the RFU were aware of Jones’ conduct, Goode hinted they turned a blind eye due to the success England were achieving.

He remarked: “I think if we’re being realistic, he was getting the results, and I think a lot of things get kept quiet at that point.

“If you get the results and you’re successful, then people don’t need to look too far, and he was getting the results.

“While some of the bits and pieces and way he was behaving were a bit too far, I think a majority of that also came later on as he probably got more frustrated himself with the results and more pent up about how things weren’t going as well, from my take.”

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