Eddie Jones 'sorry' after England head coach caught calling Ireland 'scummy' and Wales a 'little s*** place'

Eddie Jones has issued an “unreserved” apology after a video emerged in which he labelled Ireland “scummy” and Wales a “little s*** place”, with the Rugby Football Union having to also apologise to their Irish and Welsh counterparts.

The video, which was taken at a talk given by the England head coach at the Fuso talk – a sister company of England sponsors Mitsubishi – in July last year, emerged on social media just three days before his side take on Ireland in their final Six Nations match of the championship, and comes when the Australian is already under growing pressure following the back-to-back defeats by Scotland and France.

Addressing the one loss that England had experienced under him before the current Six Nations, Jones said: “We’ve only lost one Test to the scummy Irish. I’m still dirty about that game, but we will get ‘em back. We will get that back, don’t worry, we have them next year at home, we will get ‘em back.”

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The remark received a reserved reception from the audience, but Jones then turned his attentions to Wales later in the talk when explaining a story about the Japanese Under-20 side losing to Wales Under-20s.

“Wales! Who knows Wales?” Jones asked. “Are there any Welsh people here? So it’s this little s*** place that has got 3 million people – 3 million!”

The video, which was posted on Twitter by Irish online channel @SecondCaptains, was quickly shared across social media, leading to both Jones and the RFU issuing an apology.

“I apologise unreservedly for any offence caused – no excuses and I shouln’t have said what I did. I’m very sorry,” Jones said in a statement.

An RFU spokesman added: “Eddie has apologised for his inappropriate remarks, and the RFU is also very sorry for any offence caused.

“We will we apologising to the IRFU and WRU.”

It is an embarrassing episode for both Jones and the RFU and will no doubt help fuel the Irish side this weekend when they attempt to beat England and win only their third men’s Grand Slam in their history, following their previous successes in 1948 and 2009. With England already enduring their worst campaign since 2009, Ireland have the chance to compound the dethroned champions’ misery and inflict their third defeat of the championship – something they have not experienced since 2006 in a year that ended with head coach Andy Robinson losing his job.

Jones was also due to trim his squad to 29 players on Wednesday evening, but has elected to postpone that decision until Thursday when he names his match-day squad for the visit of Ireland to Twickenham. Four players were due to be sent back to their clubs after being retained to cover injury concerns in the squad, but even though defence coach Paul Gustard confirmed that both Elliot Daly and captain Dylan Hartley trained fully on Wednesday, the cull has been postponed until the afternoon squad announcement with doubts resurfacing after the session.

“Both were part of training today, we were monitoring them for the first couple of days, but they took part today,” said Gustard. “They’re available for selection.

“We were able to as we had injury dispensation with a couple of players so we managed to hold back some more numbers which was good for our preparation.”

The unsavoury saga is yet another blow to England’s campaign and comes on a day when they had already suffered the double blow of losing Courtney Lawes and Nathan Hughes not only for this weekend’s encounter, but the rest of the season including the summer tour of South Africa in June.

“Obviously we’re really disappointed,” Gustard added. “We’re disappointed for them, we wish them the best for their recovery, we’ve got close links with the players individually and we’ll be in touch with their physios so we’re part of their rehab process and it’s an opportunity for somebody else.”

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Wasps No 8 Hughes was injured in the 24th minute of Saturday’s 22-16 loss at the Stade de France and was forced off the field in obvious pain after teammate Joe Launchbury and French fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc were cleaned out of a ruck and landed on his left leg.

It is the second serious injury that the 26-year-old has suffered this season, having missed two months after he injured the same knee while playing for Wasps last December, and comes as a huge blow for England as they are already without first-choice No 8 Billy Vunipola due to a fractured arm.

Hughes is expected to miss 12 weeks, but Lawes is expected to be sidelined for even longer than his teammate with England expecting his rehabilitation to last up to 14 weeks once he undergoes surgery this week. The second-row, who featured on the British and Irish Lions tour last summer, has been deployed at blindside flanker this season with Maro Itoje and Joe Launchbury playing at lock, and it further deepens England’s back-row concerns given they are running out of experienced Test options.

Sam Underhill is already sidelined with an injured toe and has not been included in the squad that will welcome Ireland to Twickenham this Saturday, and while Jones can call on the experienced flanker duo of James Haskell and Chris Robshaw, he will need to hope that Exeter Chiefs pair Sam Simmonds and Don Armand – who hold a combined seven international caps – hit the ground running against the already-crowned Six Nations champions.

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England are also without Ben Youngs due to a similar knee injury, although the Leicester Tigers scrum-half did not require surgery on his injured medial collateral ligament in his left knee and could return to action in April in time to regain his fitness for the South Africa tour.