Courtney Lawes has revealed he was not consulted by the Rugby Football Union about the decision to fire Eddie Jones and was unaware of any players having been, admitting he was shocked and saddened by the former head coach’s departure.
The 33-year-old captained England in their series win in Australia in the summer and was expected to continue in the role in the fall until he suffered nerve damage in his neck . He was greatly missed, with England recording just one win in four matches, ending the year with five wins from 12 Tests, including the terrible defeat of South Africa to end the campaign.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney conducted a review of England’s performance, assisted by anonymous panel members, and although Jones fought for his job during a meeting at Twickenham last week, he was fired after seven years in the role.
When asked if he had been asked to contribute, Lawes replied, “No, I wasn’t. I don’t think any players have been.
“I heard the news last Tuesday and I just gave [Eddie] a text thanking him for his services and what he had done for my career. That’s all I could really do. I was quite surprised because it’s so close to the World Cup. Eddie has a very good track record in World Cups. The last two years haven’t really gone our way, but the World Cups are different for us because we spend so much time together that we’re a real team for three or four months.
“I know I’m one of the lucky ones, he didn’t give me a lot of stick or anything like that and he ended up being really good for my career. I know that’s not the case with everything the world so people may have different opinions but for me, personally, I was sad to see him go.
“It’s hard to see. Because you’re removed from the last camp and you don’t know what happened, what happened or how the players really felt, the staff, there’s not much to say to this subject. Since the Australian tour we were going in the right direction, I thought we had made a lot of progress towards the World Cup and couldn’t progress this fall for some reason.
Lawes made his first appearance in 11 weeks on the bench last week in Northampton’s heavy loss to La Rochelle and starts Sunday’s game against Munster. While Lawes initially thought his injury was a concussion – due to a blow to the back of the head – a setback in training three weeks later led to further investigation, including a brain scan, and to the conclusion that he had suffered from other problems with his vestibular. system – a problem that sidelined him for six weeks at the start of the year.
Lawes admits having a recurring problem left him worried about his long-term future, but was reassured by the specialist before making his return.
“I guess it’s quite worrying,” he said. “At the same time, because I had had a similar thing before and he explained to me that your vestibular system is related to your eyes, your eyes and the back of your neck – it has nothing to do with brain damage…to be Honestly, I was more worried about what this means for the future because you hear a lot of stories, but I spoke to the specialist again and said, “What the hell is this?” what does this mean for the future?” and he reassured me and told me that it might increase your chances but not much.
“Usually it’s your genetics that will determine whether you have things like dementia and stuff like how much alcohol you drink, other recreational things and how well you maintain your health later in life. life. Because I’m pretty good at this stuff anyway that reassured me.
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