England rugby coach Eddie Jones has warned his players to prepare for “15 Donald Trumps” when they face the United States at the Rugby World Cup on Thursday.
Jones believes USA Rugby represent a major hurdle at the event, predicting they will bring the same dynamism and self belief projected by U.S. President Donald Trump to the game in Kobe, Japan.
“I’ve watched every game, but the only game I’m worried about at the moment is the USA,” said Jones, according to Japan Today. “The only game I am interested in is the USA. I know they’ve been down in Okinawa and they’ve had a two-week prep, so they’re going to come out all guns blazing.
“It’s going to be like 15 Donald Trumps out there, so we’ll have to be on our job, because we know they’re going to give it everything they’ve got, just like Tonga did. That’s great for us because we’ll have to be at our best.”
For his part, USA coach Gary Gold admitted he was mystified by the comment.
“I’ve absolutely no idea what he means by that,” Gold said, according to AFP.
“We’re just a team that’s really got to focus on our own processes at the moment. We’ve got to worry about what we do when we get onto the rugby field.
“At this stage, with all due respect, we’re not a good enough rugby team to be making comments or answers to questions like that. I don’t know what it means.”
Jones is known for his sometimes quixotic comments on both sport and geo politics.
He is known to love and back winners, once saying: “Arrogance is only bad when you lose. If you are winning and you are arrogant it is self-belief.”
The Australian-born coach also observed Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido is, “closer to Russia than you probably want to be.”