Australia coach Eddie Jones has hit back at criticism of him starting rookie flyhalf Carter Gordon, and even told a reporter that if he doesn’t know rugby, “don’t talk”.
Jones kept faith in the 22-year-old Gordon for the second match of the 2023 Bledisloe Cup between the Wallabies and All Blacks on Saturday, despite a nervy performance last weekend.
The former England boss has chopped and changed his starting XV since taking over this year as he looks to lock down his best team for the World Cup in France, but it has not gone to plan so far with three straight defeats.
Speaking at Wallabies conference in the build-up to this weekend’s clash in Dunedin, Jones launched into a vigorous defence of young Gordon when quizzed by a journalist, and accused those who challenged his selection of not knowing “anything about rugby”.
“Firstly, I don’t think I got it wrong, mate. I’m going to get it right and the player will get it right,” he said. “In fact, I’m going to get it right, and the player will get it right.
“To say that as a young No 10 in his first game [as a starter], ‘you’ve got it wrong in selecting him’ is just a load of rubbish, mate.
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“So anyone who asks that question doesn’t know anything about rugby.
“If you know anything about rugby you know that No 10s need time in the seat. If you don’t know anything about rugby then don’t talk to me.”
He added: “He’s a young guy coming through. He’s getting enough instruction from his assistant coaches. My job is to give him the confidence to keep going forward. He’s going to make more mistakes.
“Now, we’d love him to have a mistake-free game on Saturday. But, the reality is he’s a young guy learning his apprentice. He needs to make the mistakes and learn from them, and not listen to much from blokes like you.
“My job is to make sure he doesn’t listen to blokes like you, who want to put rubbish in his head.”
Photo: William West/AFP