England head coach Eddie Jones says that he 'probably went a bit too far' with some comments about Johnny Sexton during this year's Six Nations.
In the build-up to England's game against Ireland at Twickenham, Jones said that you would have been be worried regarding Sexton's safety on the pitch.
This came after Sexton suffered what the Irish camp called a 'whiplash' injury during the game against France two weeks prior to the England clash.
They’ve talked about him having a whiplash injury. I’m sure his mother and father would be worried about that. Hopefully, the lad’s all right on Saturday to play. I’d just be worried about his welfare. If you’re saying a guy has got whiplash then he’s had a severe trauma. Maybe they used the wrong term, but if you’ve had severe trauma then you’ve got to worry about the welfare of the player.
In an interview with The Times, Jones said that he now regrets these comments and will, at some point, apologise to Sexton.
I probably went a bit too far there.
At the right time I will [apologise]. I haven’t yet but at the right time I will. Because he is a brilliant player. I love him as a player.
Jones also admitted that his own mother has often felt annoyance with what he has said during his coaching career.
The Aussie says that these remarks were prompted by a desire to see more 'devil' in his England side.
I felt with the England team, they needed to have the devil pulled out of them. The only way I could do it in the short term was to be quite up front and say, ‘Right, this is how we are going to be.’ I think it made them a bit nervous; that is not a bad thing.
