EDDIE JONES ramped up the mind games with Ireland by joking he might send spies to watch them train.
And the England boss cheekily confessed it would not be the first time he has turned snooper.
In fact, a shameless Jones revealed he was willing to try pretty much anything to get an edge over rivals back when coaching Australia.
That even stretched to ordering his backroom staff to go undercover dressed as tramp-like Swagmen, complete with iconic Aussie cork hats!
Football has been rocked by Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa’s Spygate scandal after the Argentine held his hands up to similar skullduggery.
But a brazen Jones shrugged off the row and claimed such practices have been going on in rugby for years.
England and Ireland are both in Portugal at training camps next week ahead of their mammoth Six Nations opener in Dublin on February 2.
And a mischievous Jones said: “I might have to get the Swagman’s hat out again. It wouldn’t stand out in Portugal, would it?
“I’ve been coaching for 20 years and it has always been going on. If you want to do that, you can do it.”
Jones was a Six Nations flop last time out as England slumped to a fifth-place finish — their worst showing in decades.
Spying on the opposition 12 months ago probably would not have made much difference because his players were so out of sorts.
But pumped up by a huge World Cup year, Jones was letting all his secrets slip at Twickenham.
Speaking about spying on rivals back when he was Australia’s head coach, he admitted: “It used to be part of the pre-match brief back in the early 2000s.
“I can remember sending a coach, who is now in a very senior position, in costume, to watch one team play. He got chased out of there!
“He was dressed like a Swagman then — with one of those hats with corks. I was watching that Leeds bloke’s presentation.
“He was just telling everyone what everyone does. Fifteen years ago we’d send people out in costumes to watch training.
“Now you don’t need to do that as you see everything in the game.
“You can get ten different visions of the game. Before, you would only get one tight vision of the game.
“I think it happens less now because people struggle to see the value of it. Most teams have security guards too, which at an international level makes it harder to do.
“But teams warm up before the game and the opposition are taping your lineouts to get a head start.”
Jones also accepts it will be easy for teams to spy at the World Cup in Japan — because of all the monster skyscrapers to snoop from.
The ex-Brave Blossoms coach said: “There are a number of grounds in Japan surrounded by office buildings so the ability to film the opposition’s training is there if you want to do it.
“There are people all the time trying to take video.
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“I was with Steve Borthwick in South Africa, sitting having a coffee. A bloke comes out and starts trying to take photos of all our notes.
“You can’t be too obsessed about it — you just have to do what you can to protect what is important.
“But I don’t want to get to the extent where we go to the team room and we’re putting Blu Tack on the keyhole and looking under seats for tape recorders.
“It creates a sense of paranoia and one of the things you learn at a World Cup is that players work hard.
“But they also have to enjoy it. You don’t want them feeling there’s someone looking at them constantly.”
Jones could not resist another dig at Warren Gatland, claiming the Welsh boss will be adopting the dark arts during this Six Nations campaign.
He said: “I can guarantee Warren sends someone when we have an open training session here at Twickenham.”
Linkhttps://textbacklinkexchanges.com/eddie-jones-warns-ireland-he-might-turn-spy-and-not-for-the-first-time/
News Photo Eddie Jones warns Ireland he might turn spy – and not for the first time
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