EDDIE Jones conducted a spiky final press conference ahead of England’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland that fuelled confusion over the fitness of Owen Farrell.
In a marked departure from the usual exuberance he displays when addressing the media, the prickly Australian gave a series of evasive answers and repeatedly deflected questions with the words “all I’m worried about is Scotland”.
Farrell is expected to start the Triple Crown decider that could see England retain their RBS 6 Nations title despite limping off during training on Thursday morning.
The Saracens playmaker needed treatment on an unspecified injury and was subsequently withdrawn from the session at the squad’s Surrey base, raising concerns over his fitness.
Jones gave conflicting answers and even joked that it was the result of a collision with his dog Annie, a Papillon who was chased by the head coach when running on to the training pitch in the build up to the round three win over Italy.
“Owen could be a doubt, he could be a doubt. He’s got a bad leg, so he couldn’t finish training. He’ll be all right,’’ Jones said.
“I’m not going to tell you that [the specifics of Farrell’s injury]. I’m sure you’ve got a long range camera and you can go into one of the rooms and find out.
“I think he ran into my dog. My dog was running around and he ran into it. Annie is a pretty tricky runner and sometimes she gets off the leash.
“Owen just ran into someone at training – it’s as simple as that. He’ll be alright, possibly.”
When it was pointed out to Jones that he had given conflicting answers over Farrell’s fitness, Jones replied: ‘’Yeah, but I think he’ll be all right, is that OK?”
England on Tuesday appeared to reveal their team selection against Scotland when the written contents of a whiteboard positioned at the side of their training pitch was captured by a photographer.
Three of the four changes uncovered by the picture – the return of scrum-half Ben Youngs, wing Jack Nowell and Joseph – have materialised, but Billy Vunipola has been picked on the bench rather the starting XV to prove one adjustment was wide of the mark.
Jones appeared to claim that leaving out the whiteboard displaying team selection was a deliberate ruse.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here