Jones livid after loss to Barbarians

Japan coach Eddie Jones tore into his team following a 40-21 loss to the French Barbarians on Wednesday, threatening to resign if he does not see a change in the attitude of the players.

The defeat followed three straight losses at home to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa in the Pacific Nations Cup and Jones, who took over for John Kirwan at the start of the year, did not like what he saw from the Brave Blossoms who were not at full strength, featuring several inexperienced players.

"It was disgusting today," the former Wallabies boss said. "There's no other way to look at it. We had 15 players out there who did not put their bodies on the line, and that's my fault as coach.

"We can't train any harder, we can't train with any more intent. Players understand the game plan, but they weren't physical. How you can play rugby and not be physical?"

When captain Toshiaki Hirose laughed as he stumbled for words, Jones' temper reached the boiling point. Hirose was nearly in tears as the Australian continued to unload on the team.

"It's not funny!" he said. "That's the problem with Japanese rugby, seriously. We're not serious about winning. If we want to win, we have to go out and physically smash people."

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French Barbarians outplay Brave Blossoms

Eddie Jones' Japan rugby squad went down 40-21 at the hands of the French Barbarians despite a second-half surge from the Asian champions on Wednesday.

Coming off three defeats to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa at the Pacific Nations Cup on home soil, Rugby World Cup winner Jones fielded an experimental side which did not respond much to the Barbarians in the first half.

The visitors sat pretty on a 32-7 lead at the break, reaching the scoreboard in just the second minute as Benjamin Lapeyre crossed for his first time of the evening.

The Barbarians piled up the points with three more tries by Lapeyre, Thierry Lacrampe and Marvin O'Connor while Camille Lopez was successful on three of the four conversions.

Lopez and Lapeyre also each added a penalty.

Japan did not have an answer until the 33rd minute when Kosei Ono pulled back a try with Yu Tamura converting before the teams headed into the tunnel.

The Brave Blossoms off to a fast start in the second half, Tamura touching down in the 42nd minute before scoring the conversion himself.

Kobe Steel veteran Shoji Ito further closed the gap eight minutes past the hour with a five-pointer, and Ayumu Goromaru came off the bench to make it a 32-21 contest.

But Japan turned over the ball a few times too often as the Barbarians, who padded out their lead with a late Pierre Bernard penalty and a try by Julien Arias, held on for victory.

The two sides meet again on Sunday also at Prince Chichibu Stadium.

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