{"id":524607,"date":"2026-04-11T04:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/524607\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T04:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:59:14","slug":"ex-england-wing-reveals-true-story-behind-clash-with-eddie-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/524607\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-England wing reveals true story behind clash with Eddie Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former England winger Marland Yarde appeared on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby this week to discuss his life post-rugby and reflect on the times that shaped his career.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old recently announced his retirement from the game, leaving behind a legacy of try-scoring exploits, both in club and international colours.<\/p>\n

Like any sportsperson, Yarde went through many changes in his career, breaking the mould of the young athlete to become the experienced head he is today.<\/p>\n

None of these changes happened on their own; it takes influences \u2013 good or bad \u2013 to alter a perspective on life. One such influence changed his career for the better, and it\u2019s not someone that people would expect \u2013 Eddie Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mind games from Eddie Jones<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people feel like me and him had a really bad relationship,\u201d the man from Saint Lucia told the GBR panel.<\/p>\n

Explaining that Jones knew how to get the best out of him, he said: \u201cThis guy changed me in a lot of ways. I used to play with that fear. He knew how to push my buttons, but he was also the coach who gave me my most caps. He really pushed me because he believed in what I could do, but he just had a different way of doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike some players, you can put an arm around. Some players he liked to prod. He just knew, if he just kept me on coal, that I was always going to be at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite always being kept on edge by the former England<\/a> coach, Yarde insists that the duo retained a good relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to him a couple of years ago, and had a conversation like normal. But at that time in question, I think he really elevated my game and elevated the importance of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Revealing the chaotic nature of their relationship, Yarde recalled the \u201cweird\u201d conversations the two used to have, claiming that Jones would often collar him, in person and on the phone, to chat about all sorts of weird and wonderful things that weren\u2019t even related to rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just to have a giggle sometimes,\u201d said Yarde. \u201cIt was weird, but in some ways, he got the best out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The clash<\/p>\n

Many fans will remember the viral story, shared by various teammates, of Jones berating Yarde<\/a> for claiming to be tired when arriving at England camp. The story goes that Jones essentially told Yarde to leave camp because he didn\u2019t have the correct mindset.<\/p>\n

While part of that fable is true, there\u2019s much more nuance to the actual story.<\/p>\n

Retelling the event, Yarde said: \u201cMe and Rocko (Semesa Rokoduguni) were both playing Bath versus Harlequins, and the media built it up because we were both in the England squad. One of us is going to play at the weekend, so we played against each other. I had a good game; he did too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the game was like five, six o\u2019clock in the evening. So, by the time we finished the game and drove down to Pennyhill Park, we\u2019re arriving there at like 10\/11. Your body\u2019s bruised, you\u2019re pretty tired per the 80-minute game. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s asked to see me at six in the morning. So obviously, after the game, you take caffeine tablets. So I barely even slept, maybe like two to three hours. So I\u2019ve gone there, I\u2019ve just woken up, my body\u2019s pretty sore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked into the office. He was like, \u2018how you feeling mate?\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019m pretty tired.\u2019 And he goes, \u2018what? You don\u2019t want to pay for England. You don\u2019t want to play, get out\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was like a test. So I\u2019ve basically sat down. I was like, this can\u2019t be happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking he\u2019s brought me in here because he\u2019s gonna tell me I\u2019m starting or something, and I\u2019ve just stood there, and we just literally had a face-off. Luckily, I didn\u2019t walk out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones then told Yarde: \u201cYou can stay, enjoy all the food, and we\u2019ll get you out of here, or you can get in your car and get off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winger was having none of it, however, retorting: \u201cNo, I\u2019m not going anywhere. You asked me what I\u2019m feeling. I said I\u2019ve just played a game less than 12 hours ago, I\u2019m just a bit tired, but that doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t want to play for England. I\u2019m here because I want to play for England. <\/p>\n

Explaining how Jones took that response, he continued: \u201cI think he liked that because he\u2019s basically testing me, and, like, shouted at me, and I just wouldn\u2019t move.\u201d<\/p>\n

After staring each other down for half a minute, Jones told Yarde to \u201cgo get a kit on\u201d and \u201cenjoy the training\u201d before assuring him that he\u2019ll be \u201cgone\u201d afterwards.<\/p>\n

Of course, Yarde did not go, and was instead in the starting line-up for the upcoming match, proving that Jones\u2019 test was designed to keep him on edge and firing.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Ex-All Blacks star slams \u2018naivety\u2019 of New Zealand Rugby over Ian Foster treatment and highlights stark contrast with Rassie Erasmus<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England winger Marland Yarde appeared on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby this week to discuss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[348,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-524607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}