Since the calamity in Lyon, almost everyone has had their say about Eddie Jones, the strange post-match press conference where he dodged questions over a report he had interviewed for Japan job ahead of the World Cup, and whether they believe him or not.
Now a UK online casino has asked a body language expert to analyse the statements of Jones and he’s convinced Jones was telling porkies when asked by The Roar if he had interviewed with the Japanese.
Speaking to Genting Casino, Darren Stanton – who calls himself tvhumanliedetector on Instagram, says he believes Jones did hold talks with Japan and that Australia captain Porecki feels this has disrupted their World Cup.
“It appears to me that Eddie Jones is not being honest in his press conference and I do believe that he has had an interview with Japan,” Stanton said.
“There’s a hesitancy when he’s first asked the question about Japan, he takes a small half-breath and then his blink rate goes bizarre. A blink rate is linked to a shift in emotion and we change our emotions significantly when we lie. This tells me that he has had an interview with Japan.
“His eyebrows are up and his eyes are wide, which is a sign of fear. He’s afraid he’s been rumbled and that his deception has not been bought. He shakes his head when he answers in the affirmative, which is contradictory and the language he uses is ‘lying by admission’, which means he’s skirting over it and essentially saying ‘no comment’.
“There’s about three or four red flags throughout his answers. If he hadn’t had engaged in an interview with Japan, then it would be like an instant ‘no, I haven’t’, or something clear like that, but he’s very deflective and resorts to ‘parroting’. ‘Parroting’ is where you repeat a series of short statements or you mirror language used by an interrogator as you don’t have the time to think of a plausible response so you resort to this kind of language in an attempt to hide the truth.”
Hansen offers to help with review – into his good mate
World Cup-winning Kiwi coach Steve Hansen has been doing the rounds talking up Eddie Jones in the past few days.
But one statement really stood out. Hansen has offered to play a role in the Rugby Australia review of the World Cup flop, which will inevitably spend a chunk of time analysing the performance of his great mate Eddie.
RA can probably spare themselves some time and listen to his media interviews.
“I’d consider helping a review of Australian rugby,” Hansen told News Corp. “I’d consider doing that, because it’s only going to make New Zealand rugby stronger if Australian rugby is stronger.
“I wouldn’t put on a tracksuit or join the team, but the game is bigger than all of us, and we need Southern Hemisphere rugby to be strong. At the moment it probably isn’t as strong as it should be.”
Hansen spent time in the Wallabies camp before the World Cup and was, predictably, positive about Jones and especially his decision not to select some of the old guard for France.
“We can argue until we’re blue in the face about selections, but personally I think you could have taken whoever you wanted to that tournament and the result would have been the same,” Hansen said. “Maybe marginally better results, but probably the same results, and that’s because of the problems that are happening in Australian rugby.”
On Sunday after the game Jones said Rugby Australia had deep seated issues that needed fixing.
England coach Eddie Jones (left) and New Zealand coach Steve Hansen on the pitch after the 2019 Rugby World Cup Semi Final match at International Stadium Yokohama. (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)
Hansen’s solution would be to merge a Brumbies and Rebels merger.
“I’ve always felt (five Australian Super Rugby teams) is too many,” he said. “Australian rugby was really strong when there were three.
“I understand you’ve gotta develop the game and create content for TV, but I think you maybe amalgamate the Brumbies and the Rebels, which would be tough on the Brumbies, because they’ve been very successful.
“But for the betterment of Australian rugby, you need to make it harder to get a contract. You need to work harder to get it and not spread the resources so thin.”
What Biggar told Carter
Wales star No.10 said he felt sorry for some of the Wallabies players after his team handed out a record 40-6 sheallacking in Lyon.
Although Biggar lasted just 11 minutes due to a pec injury, his replacement Gareth Anscombe was superb as a replacement as the Welsh held Australia scoreless in the second half.
“While it’s great to be on the winning side, I felt a bit for some of the Australians. They’re in a difficult spot as a team,”said Biggar in the Daily Mail.
“They’re in a transition period and they’ve got a few issues. I spoke to Carter Gordon after the game and said you’ve just got to ride this out and better days will come.”
Biggar also had kind words for Eddie Jones after he was booed by the crowd during the game – an occurence that’s happened in each of Australia’s matches..
“I didn’t see Eddie Jones after the match but I didn’t like the way he got booed every time he was on camera. At the end of the day he’s a human being,” said Biggar.
“Sometimes he doesn’t help himself but the stick he’s getting is a bit over the top. He’s a big character and I feel for him. We want people to have personalities but as soon as things go wrong then those personalities get jumped on.
” It feels like a bandwagon. I’m not saying Eddie’s a saint but some of the flak he’s getting is unfair. I didn’t like the reaction.”
Carter Gordon. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
Dupont cloud looms heavy over France
France centre Arthur Vincent is adamant the hosts have the players to take up the leadership role of injured skipper Antoine Dupont at the Rugby World Cup.
Influential halfback Dupont sustained a facial fracture in last week’s record 96-0 win over Namibia, putting another massive dent in French hopes of winning a first world title after the earlier loss of five-eighth Romain Ntamack.
Namibia captain Johan Deysel has been suspended for six games for the dangerous head-on-head tackle.
The panel “categorised the act of foul play as being at the top end of the scale of seriousness of offending, having regard to the degree of recklessness involved in the offending, the vulnerability of the victim player and the significant injury to him.”
France’s coaching staff have “no doubts” Dupont will be available to play in the quarter-finals.
The 26-year-old Toulouse player is due to report for training on Sunday, having undergone successful surgery on the night of the match.
“His mere presence is important,” Vincent told reporters at the team camp in Aix-en-Provence on Tuesday. “If we have him with us on our video sessions and in training, he’ll have things to say, he’ll bring his expertise.
“He will return for training on Sunday. Friday and Saturday are our rest days, he will have the time to return in this period of time.
“I have no doubts about his ability to play in the quarter-final. I think it is reasonable to say that. He is our captain, he’s the best player in the world.
“But we’ve already been through those kind of situations, unfortunately. We’re solid as a group, we’ve experienced that before.
“Things will come naturally. There is not only one captain, we have a group of leaders who have been working together for the last four years.
“All the players know their roles and bring something to the table.”
While Maxime Lucu or Baptiste Couilloud will replace Dupont in the No.9 shirt, flanker Charles Ollivon will return to the captaincy he held for two years from 2020.
Antoine Dupont. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
“He was our captain when we started this cycle,” Vincent said.
“He’s got this natural leadership, he knows when he has to speak, when to insist on certain aspects.”
France’s final Pool A match is against Italy in Lyon on October 6 but thoughts of the quarter-finals were triggered when their likely opponents, South Africa and Ireland, played an epic Test last weekend.
“We had to watch this, of course,” Vincent said of Ireland’s 13-8 win.
“It was a very tough match, very competitive. It was a huge match. South Africa could have won it as well.”
Prop Reda Wardi also enjoyed the match but was not perturbed about the prospect of facing the Springbok pack nor the so-called ‘bomb squad’ of replacements they have on the bench.
“We know they have a huge forward pack,” he said. “When they go for a seven-one bench split, you can expect that they want to bring physicality.
“They are high-level rugby players but not supermen.”
Jacko
Roar Rookie
All the Brumbies are asking for is to be given a guarantee that RA won’t simply kick them out of the comp, Its far from that simple. If RA give that guarantee then they are locked in to everything that means. RA need to do some serious reviewing and if they find that the current situation is working then they are about 1000% wrong. What if RA gave that guarantee then found it isnt in RAs best interests? Personally I hope RA goes it alone and drops out of SR to do a domestic comp and the Brumbies can stay in Canberra but if that doesnt happen then all things are on the table.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
The thing is the Brumbies don't cost RA anything. Never have. All four other Australian teams have at some point been propped up by RA to ensure they didn't fail. All the Brumbies are asking for is to be given a guarantee that RA won't simply kick them out of the comp, then they can source funding somewhere else. RA are effectively blocking that then saying, hey, give us your IP and we will cover you, but then we own you and can do whatever we want with you. RA don't want to lose the Brumbies, they know that will be a disaster. What I think they want is to move the name somewhere so they can try and confuse people by saying hey, we kept the Brumbies they're just now a Melbourne team. Both Brumbies and Rebels fans should look at that and say, yeah nah. Can you point me to a successful merger of teams anywhere in the world of sport over a distance of 800km with a couple home games in each location? Reality is RA seem to be trying to have their cake and eat it too. Both sides of the argument have each other over a barrel as RA can't simply take the IP by force and Brumbies are highly unlikely to give it up so we either get RA making that promise or giving the Brumbies money, unlikely. The Brumbies selling their IP and moving elsewhere, unlikely. Or the Brumbies leaving the comp. Which sadly is where this all seems to be heading.
HittingGapsWithNoGas
Roar Rookie
Seems very short sighted from RA. They're a beggar acting like a chooser. The Brumbies have always built our best rugby IP ever since the MacQueen days. The Brumbies games this year also haven't looked that poorly attended relative to the other franchises, esp the Rebels. So it matters not so much how many people you have in your city, but how many of them will come out to watch rugby and pay some cash to watch some running rugby and Brumby Jack chunder out his breathing hole on the sideline.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
To be honest Jez I dont blame RA for not promising that at this point. Change is desperately needed. Im not saying the Brumbies have to go but I do see it as the option that makes sense from a location perspective and also from a positive growth perspective. I'd be angry for sure if it was my Chiefs but thats also on the cards with NZR having done its reviews ( independently ) and with the hope that RA and NZR go their seperate ways post WC debarcle. There are options that dont close the Brumbies completely and still get the funding for the stadium. Maybe 3 matches a year there? All thats above my pay grade but its clear something needs to change within RA and its current setup. What is the changes required? Maybe 5 teams IS doable but that required more money than RA has and it just doesnt seem to be available from anuwhere.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
That 20mil revenue is according to the Brumbies financials from 2022 as reported by the club. They also reported that most of that was operating costs and community support aka the grassroots RA aren't funding. However if the Rebels only had 8.8mil revenue and likely similar operating costs, surely they're getting propped up from somewhere or they're not spending any money on juniors or development.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
And here's the catch 22. RA won't promise the ACT government that the Brumbies will remain long term. ACT government won't build a new stadium or assist the Brumbies with funding unless RA make that promise.
Jezdexter
Roar Rookie
Brumbies may be bankrupt, but as above they didn't ask RA for money, they asked RA for a guarantee that they would remain in the ACT long term to allow them to obtain funding elsewhere and RA wouldn't do that. I know you think it's wrong and I don't expect you to see it otherwise. But the issue is that over a long period of mismanagement breeding mistrust and poor results from RA and a number of coaches I have basically lost any emotional connection with the Wallabies. Rennie restored some hope, he at least told the truth of where the team was at and showed actual results in how they were playing that left me with hope they were getting better. The appointment of EJ made me question if I could be bothered watching them in this year's RWC, I could see this crash coming from day one, and I am left wishing I didn't. Now I'm at the point where I don't want to see the Wallabies play, a large part of this is knowing they haven't selected the best available players, even if you just talk youth it's not even close. They have a coach who is simply unable to be trusted about anything who has lied to the public since the day he was appointed about plans, tactics, players. Every time he opens his mouth I immediately assume he's lying. Same for Hamish. All I associate RA and the Wallabies with right now is that pair and frankly I can't stand them. So if the Brumbies are gone I have no positive emotional connection to rugby in Australia past club level in a state where RA clearly don't want to support that club either. I'll go find a different sport.
WEST
Roar Guru
Problem is his personality. He’s extremely difficult to work with. I am yet to hear anything positive from anyone who’s worked with him or been coached by him.
Baz
Roar Rookie
you don't need to ruin a perfectly good metaphor :happy:. And yes I am an avid gardener.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
They made 20mil last year according to Jez so id question what are they doing with it to be broke. Definatelt need a new stadium. Its just bloody cold there in winter.
Cec
Roar Rookie
That needs to change for the good of our game. It will take a talented communicator to make it happen.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
So why can't the brumbies be financially stable if they are bringing in 20 mil? Seems crazy that 20 mil isn't stopping them from being broke.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Well it was repeated again tonight by hoiles that the Brumbies are bankrupt so I'm inclined to believe that there is truth to it. I think you are very wrong to prefer the brumbies are in but rugby dies because of it and if that's true then no wonder rugby is dying in aus.
HittingGapsWithNoGas
Roar Rookie
Maybe the Force’s scouts have got to start raiding Craven Week and the Rebels scouts need to do their best NRL scout impression and spend half the year stalking Kiwi secondary schools
HittingGapsWithNoGas
Roar Rookie
NZ aren’t in love with SRP in its current form either. Why not negotiate an “expansion” of the current teams in Australia to 8, have them play nationally like they did in 2020 and then run an end of year representative period where our best 30 (2 x XVs) play theirs. Pretty sure Sky Sports gets better ratings when their teams pay each other and there’s no Aussie team involved.
lazzle
Roar Rookie
That’d be the “Brumbels”..???
HittingGapsWithNoGas
Roar Rookie
The backs and loosies can have touch and the big lads can have Five Little Pigs. Get Ladbrokes to run a book on it, a few GoPros on boots, a Veo Camera and a YouTube Live Stream and I think you’ve got the next sporting craze to sweep the Caucasus.
HittingGapsWithNoGas
Roar Rookie
The benefit other codes have is that no one else plays them. So cohesion in teams is not an issue because they don’t have to compete with other strong nations the world over in order to shower glory on their sport in Australia. The Australian sporting public appear incapable of appreciating the sport of rugby if the Wallabies are not doing well. I wish this were not the case. But dealing with the material realities of Rugby’s place in Australia we need to try and a) expand our reach, and b) do it while building opportunities for cohesion building by funnelling our best players into as little number of teams as possible so effective combinations can be built. For me, a NRC club system coupled with a very extensive representative season featuring two or three teams would help this (City v Country or North v East v West) might help hit those two criteria. So you broaden the opportunities to play and watch high level rugby locally, but you also have good opportunities to run possibles v probables for the Wallabies and getting the best combinations playing together more often.
HittingGapsWithNoGas
Roar Rookie
The schools want to win comps for their own glory, not for Australian Rugby’s.
Busted Fullback
Roar Rookie
There is a system in place, but I wonder about the quality/experience of the people doing the mentoring.