Talking in the Independent, Saracens boss Eddie
Jones recalls what he has learnt about team leaders in his previous time working with the Wallabies and Springboks.
"I've been pretty fortunate with the senior players I've had. John Eales struck everyone as the nicest bloke in the world, but when he was captain of the Wallabies he could be pretty tough. I remember when a member of the staff came into the team room wearing a collarless shirt, which was against the very strict dress code. John took one look at him and said: "Out! And don't come back until you find yourself a proper shirt."
"More recently, I worked with the Springboks and was struck by John Smit's contribution. The South Africans still have an intense provincial rivalry within the Test squad: the Blue Bulls from Pretoria do things differently to the Sharks from Durban; the guys from Cape Town have a culture of their own. Smit was outstanding in stitching the different threads into something whole. He also had the guts to tell the coaches their fortunes. If he thought that day's training had been dreadful, he was prepared to say so. There aren't too many players with the confidence to do that in the up-front way he did it."
RSS feed
