Danny Care launches extraordinary attack on Eddie Jones' England 'dictatorship'

Danny Care has delivered a scathing assessment of Eddie Jones' time in charge of England, comparing the former head coach to a "despot who disappeared people" in a new interview

Former England rugby star Danny Care has hit out at Eddie Jones, comparing playing under the coach to "living in a dictatorship".

Care, who retired from international rugby earlier this year, earned 101 caps for England after making his debut in 2008. The scrum-half was exiled from the England setup for almost four years by Jones after the 2018 autumn internationals, before returning to the side in 2022.

And Care has claimed Jones viewed players as "dispensable" during his seven years in charge of England, comparing him to a "despot who disappeared people". Care has also accused Jones of telling England flanker Ben Earl that he was not performing at his best because he had been "raised wrong".

"You can't start questioning people's upbringing, how their parents are raising them," Care told the Times. "I think it was all down to not working hard enough in a kick-chase or something.

"When I look back at it that's the sad thing. How can an environment, that should be the best of the best, how can it be like that, when everyone is so scared of the guy at the top that you can't have a conversation with him?

"Any day you look at him wrong or someone says the wrong thing, and he could just blow. He was so powerful because he knew he had all these lads at his disposal, so many good players that he could get rid of you. It was a luxury he had."

Care also believes the reason he was overlooked by England for so long was that he went to Jones and asked why he had been initially dropped, claiming he probably would have been recalled sooner "if I'd have just gone, 'Sorry Eddie, thanks a lot, mate,' and walked".

He added: "We were all living in that fear that you say the one wrong thing and your whole career could be determined. If, after three games, you don't like something and say so to Eddie, you could have gone on to win 100 caps, but you'd only ever win three.

"You almost don't want him to speak to you in the day, because you don't know which way it's going to go, you almost just want it to go under the radar, which then breeds a selfish mentality that you're just looking out for yourself. We weren't suffering in silence.

"We'd be like, 'Who's getting chopped today?' Or if he's in a bad mood, everyone would be like, 'Right, head down, eat your breakfast, go and train, get back to your room.' You know, we did live in fear, which is mental. You have alpha males, like Hask [James Haskell], three times his height, genuinely petrified of the power that man had."

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