Eddie Jones divulges detail of lunch with Louis van Gaal in Amsterdam

Eddie Jones reveals he met former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal for lunch in Amsterdam and the pair compared coaching notes – even though the Dutchman did not know the England rugby head coach ‘from a bar of soap!’

  • England head coach Eddie Jones has revealed details of an encounter in Holland
  • The Australian had lunch with Dutch football coaching legend Louis van Gaal 
  • Van Gaal has managed Manchester United, Barcelona and the Netherlands 
  • Jones revealed Van Gaal passed on some advice about adapting your coaching  

England head coach Eddie Jones has revealed details of an encounter with Louis van Gaal at an airport in which the two men talked about coaching. 

Australian rugby coach Jones, who has previously taken charge of the Wallabies as well as Japan, has been at the helm at England since 2016 and guided them to the 2019 World Cup final. 

Now, the 61-year-old tells of a lunch in Amsterdam with former Manchester United, Barcelona and Holland manager Van Gaal, 69, where the Dutchman passed on some advice about adapting your coaching to the skill-set of your players.   


Eddie Jones (left) has revealed details of a lunch in Amsterdam with Louis van Gaal (right) 

‘I remember that I have the pleasure of sitting down with Louis van Gaal, the great football coach who coached Manchester United and obviously the Netherlands, and he didn’t know me from a bar of soap!’ Jones, talking exclusively to the Not Just Cricket Podcast, said. 

‘So we sat down and had a bite of lunch in the airport in Amsterdam and he had this lovely way of saying it. He said “everyone’s got a dream of how they want to play, but the good coaches are then able to work out what players they’ve got, and what shape that takes.” 

‘And you’ve got to find a way to be effective. The only currency we have in high-level professional sport is winning. There’s no other currency. That’s the only thing that counts, it’s like in business, the only thing that matters is making profit. 

‘The only thing that matters to sporting teams is winning, because otherwise you don’t get a chance to develop the team.’

Jones then went on to explain why his current England side were adopting tactics which have been widely criticised, particularly after their Six Nations opening defeat against Scotland earlier this month.  

England slumped to a Six Nations defeat against Scotland at Twickenham earlier this month

‘So with Japan, we’d play ruck and run, we’d play as quickly as we could, and with England at the moment the game that suits the circumstances is ruck and kick, which doesn’t appeal to some people but that’s the way it is,’ Jones detailed. 

‘Maybe in 2 years time we might get back to playing ruck and run but that’s the way it is.’

Jones is currently preparing his side to face Wales in their third Six Nations match on Saturday in Cardiff. 




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