Erasmus denies ‘spy’ conspiracy
South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has played down suggestions that returning assistant Felix Jones had been acting as a ‘spy’ for the Springboks during his short stint with England.
Jones – who previously helped the Boks to back-to-back World Cup wins as a defence consultant – joined England following the 2023 tournament but resigned from Steve Borthwick’s coaching staff in August after only eight Tests. The 37-year-old reportedly told friends he was unhappy with the “unstable” working environment and officially stepped down from his role in December.
Last month it was confirmed that he would be returning to the Springboks, with Erasmus’ comments at the time leading some to half-jokingly suggest that Jones had been acting as a ‘spy’ and used as part of an espionage mission against England.
In the release confirming Jones’ return, the head coach said: “After spending some time in England, his experience of working in the UK and studying the opposition teams in the Six Nations and other international tournaments will add immense value in assisting us to adapt and improve.”
However, in a press conference held on Wednesday, Erasmus clarified his comments and said those in the South African set-up “had hoped it would work out” for Jones in England.
“I don’t want people to think it was at all a plan to get him over there and come back again,” he said. “We all hoped for him that it would work out and I can’t comment on why it didn’t work out at England. But getting him back is fantastic, because we never wanted to lose him.”
‘Obviously Felix will have learned a lot and we would love him to share some of those things with us. We do think there are little things we have missed where we can do better and Felix is going to play a pretty vital role in that. There is not one coach who didn’t send me a list of things that he wants Felix to be involved with in in his department.”
“We’re not playing England but we will in the future, and he will have coached against the other Six Nations teams,” Erasmus added. “We know exactly what his role is going to be with us and if we do our hard work first, those small little edges might help us which Felix will bring.”
Wales make four changes
Wales U20 head coach Richard Whiffin has confirmed his side to face Scotland on Friday as they target three successive wins.
Fly-half Harri Ford kept his nerve to successfully convert match-winning kicks against Italy and Ireland and has been rewarded with a start as one of four personnel changes.
With Ford starting, Harri Wilde drops down to the bench with Elijah Evans replacing Osian Roberts at outside centre. Harry Rees-Weldon also returns to the starting line-up on the wing, enabling Tom Bowen to switch from the flank to full-back.
Deian Gwynne also returns to the starting squad in place of Dan Gemine, after missing the last game against Ireland through injury.
“We really feel we’re starting to build some depth in the squad and the way we feel the game might go will suit certain players in different positions,” said Whiffin. “We want to be able to test the squad as we’re looking for a good performance obviously on Friday night but we’re also prepping for a World Cup at the back end of the year so we need to know a little bit about our squad.”
On Ford being handed the starting jersey, he added: “To be honest with the 10s we knew they were going to job share the role and this is Harri Ford’s opportunity this week. He has been great off the bench and brings a different lens to the game. He has goal-kicked well but it’s very different to starting a game to finishing it so it will be interesting to see how he rises to the challenge.”
“We’re taking Scotland seriously as it is going to be a very tough challenge up there – we know any away game in the championship is going to be tough. Scotland will be desperate to get a win in their last home game of the Six Nations. They have a couple of key individuals who give them go forward so we will need get on top of them so we collectively can put our own game plan into action.”
Replacements: 16. Evan Wood, 17. Louie Trevett, 18. Owain James, 19. Luke Evans, 20. Caio James, 21. Sion Davies, 22. Harri
Wilde, 23. Elis Price.
