VIDEO: England star joins anti-Eddie brigade
SPOTLIGHT: Mike Brown has added to the scrutiny on Eddie Jones by saying he was on the receiving end of a foul-mouthed rant when the England coach left him out of his squad for the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Fullback Brown was involved in a training camp bust-up with Ben Te’o during an England training camp in Treviso.
Jones, who by that stage had left Brown out since giving him the last of his 72 England caps in 2018, used the incident to explain why he had left both backs out of his squad.
Brown said Te’o was responsible for the altercation by punching him in the face, but insisted an angry Jones was in no mood to listen to his explanations.
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“That wasn’t the reason why I didn’t go to the World Cup,” Brown, England’s most-capped fullback, told RugbyPass.
“I think it was just easier for Eddie to put it on that, as I’d kind of been getting pushed out of the team as that season had gone on.
“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.”
The now 36-year-old Brown said Jones told him his security guards had witnessed the incident but reacted furiously when the player asked to see their written reports.
“So he just switched and turned on me, effing and blinding,” recalled Brown. “It wasn’t nice.
“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.”
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In Brown’s absence, England went all the way to the World Cup final in Japan only to be well beaten 12-32 by South Africa in the showpiece match.
Brown’s comments come with Jones having presided over a second successive Six Nations where England lost three games, with the Rugby Football Union issuing a vote of confidence in the veteran Australian coach.
Jones is currently in Japan, where he is a consultant to the Suntory Sungoliath team, even though many of his senior England players are currently taking part in major European club matches.
Rugbypass & AFP
