London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 08, 2025

Sometimes bad days just happen, says bemused England coach Jones

Sometimes bad days just happen, says bemused England coach Jones

Coach Eddie Jones had no explanation for England’s failure to mount any real threat in their 32-12 Rugby World Cup final defeat by South Africa on Saturday, saying that sometimes in sport you just come up against a better team on the day.
If it was not the sort of in-depth insight expected from one of the most experienced coaches in the game, it was probably shared by England fans left bewildered by how a team who destroyed New Zealand could find themselves on the wrong side of a similar demolition job seven days later.

“I don’t know why we didn’t play well today - it’s something that happens in higher level rugby,” Jones told a news conference.

“We thought our preparation was good but this happens sometimes and it isn’t a good day for it to happen. You can have the most investigative debrief of your game but they were too good for us on the day.

“We got in trouble in the scrum, we struggled in the first half, made some personnel changes in the second half and got back into it. We stayed in the fight and were in with a chance but for some reason South Africa were too strong for us.

“You can’t doubt the effort of the players, they were extraordinary, they played with a lot of pride and passion and I don’t know why we were caught short. Sometimes you never know.”

England were second-best in every department and though South Africa were excellent, Jones’s team were also the architects of their own downfall at times, playing fast and loose - and inaccurately - in the early stages and making a huge number of handling errors.

Captain Owen Farrell, who kicked all England’s points via four penalties, was similarly nonplussed.

“At the start they had a lot of ball in right areas and put us under pressure,” he said. “After the first half we came in thinking we hadn’t fired a shot.

“In the second we felt like we were in game and got some momentum but not enough. We couldn’t get a foothold but they are a brilliant side and played brilliantly today.”

Jones has now lost two World Cup finals, having also been in charge of Australia when England triumphed in 2003, and he was frustrated to have fallen at the final hurdle of his oft-stated aim of taking England back to the top of the game.

“We didn’t meet our goal of being best team in the world, but we are the second best team in the world and that is how we should be remembered,” he said.

“We will be kicking stones for four years now and that’s hard. But the only thing we’re worried about now is having a few beers, then probably a few beers tomorrow and then probably a few more on Monday. Then we’ pull up stumps.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
×