Rugby Union 2022: An energy reader hired by Eddie Jones in 2015 has called the England coach soft

Eddie Jones has gone soft and needs to get back to his crazy intense best, according to an energy reading coach who worked as a consultant to the England coach.

Eddie Jones has gone soft according to a coaching whisperer who used to work with the England coach. Picture: Getty Images

One of the first advisers Eddie Jones hired when he was recruited by the RFU, an Australian known as “the coach whisperer”, believes that he has the answer to why England are struggling. “Eddie has gone soft,” Bradley Charles Stubbs said.

Jones has always surrounded himself with consultants from outside rugby, from Frank Dick, the former director of coaching for UK Athletics to David Pembroke, who offers media advice from Canberra.

Stubbs, a former competitive surfer, focuses on “reading energy” and training the subconscious mind. He calls it the “science of belief” and initially contacted the RFU after the 2015 World Cup, having won an NRL Premiership ring with South Sydney Rabbitohs and worked with Michael Cheika when he was the Australia coach.

Bradley Charles Stubbs was the first consultant hired by Eddie Jones as England coach. Picture, John Gass

Jones hired him before they had even met. Stubbs worked with the England coach during the grand-slam Six Nations campaign in 2016 and the tour to Australia that summer, studying up to 140 pages of media coverage a day to pick out “the 1 per cents” that could positively affect England’s energy or damage that of the opposition. England players were barred from using the words “hope” or “hopefully”. When Jones suggested, before England played Ireland in 2016, that Johnny Sexton’s parents should be concerned for his health given his concussion record, that came from Stubbs; a deliberate attempt to plant doubt in the Ireland fly half’s subconscious mind.

When England came to Australia in 2016 with Jones picking fights and stating they were going to win 3-0 by playing bodyline rugby, that too came from Stubbs. “I call it mental warfare,” he said.

Stubbs is not formally trained but believes strongly that there is a direct connection between language, the energy it generates and elite performance.

Although no longer engaged by the RFU, Stubbs has been monitoring Jones and England - and he was not in the least bit surprised by their final-quarter collapse in Saturday’s 30-28 first Test defeat by the Wallabies in Perth.

“Eddie’s intensity creates energy,” Stubbs said. “That was why the RFU hired him. When I worked with him, we won nine games out of nine - the grand slam, and we whitewashed the Wallabies. He then equalled the world record of consecutive Test wins.

“People said, ‘Eddie, you have got to change. You are too intense.’ I read an interview with the captain [Courtney Lawes] and he said Eddie had completely changed. Well, so have the results. Everything is based on energy. They change the energy of what they do and the results follow.

“I love the crazy, intense Eddie, because that is when he f***ing wins. What I am saying is, ‘Eddie, go back to what you were.’

Bradley Charles Stubbs wants Eddie Jones to go back to being crazy and intense. Picture: Getty Images

“Back in 2016 it was attack, attack, attack. When we had the ball we attacked, when we didn’t have the ball we attacked and anything in the media was called mental warfare.

“I gave Eddie stuff and he just attacked. Because when you put it in the media, if the opposition or any of their staff talk about what Eddie said for one minute, it takes that one minute away from their preparation for the next game.

“When he gets a reaction it actually lifts his intensity and it creates energy that transfers on to the team. It says to his players, ‘We are going to war. I am in front of you. Let’s go.’ And Eddie is the master of it. I actually thought he would be on fire. I am surprised. He has mellowed out.”

Jones began to change his leadership style and the team environment a year ago after discussions with Lawes, who has since replaced Owen Farrell as captain, and Ellis Genge.

The circumstances are also different from 2016, with England arriving on tour after a poor Six Nations rather than as grand-slam champions. Jones fired a pop shot at the Wallabies, questioning whether Quade Cooper and Nic White would complement each other in the half backs, but otherwise said that trying to engage Dave Rennie, the Australia coach, was like stepping into a ring and sparring by himself.

“Eddie is smarter than that,” Stubbs said. “Find something to get under his skin. I’d rather see Eddie coming out with a baseball bat and doing what he usually does, because that’s when he wins.”

A mindset coach says he woul drather see Eddie Jones coming out with a baseball bat to win games. Picture: AAP Image

Stubbs now works as a mindset coach with New South Wales Health, having claimed that he talked Covid-19 patients requiring 95 per cent oxygen out of an induced coma and back to full health. When he worked with Michael Maguire, head coach of the Rabbitohs in 2014, they entered into a pact that each of them would cut off their left little finger if the team, with Sam Burgess as their captain, failed to win the NRL title. “I needed his commitment,” Stubbs said.

His connection with the RFU began with an email to Ian Ritchie, who was chief executive in 2015. “To me everything is about winning,” Stubbs said. “My job is to look at a coach and help them with the ‘1 per cents’ that they don’t see. I’m the guy that sits above and looks at all the 1 per cents of what energy is in the team.

“Everything is energy. When you walk into a crowded room and someone immediately stands out from everyone else, that is because of their energy.”

Stubbs said that he knew England would fail to win the 2019 World Cup as soon as he learnt that Ricky Stuart, head coach of the Canberra Raiders, had spent time with the squad during the week of the quarter-final.

Days before, the Raiders had lost the NRL grand final and Stubbs said that Stuart’s negative energy would have had an impact on England, although it did not prevent them from defeating Australia and New Zealand.

“There was a critical change in energy,” Stubbs said. “When you are winning you have to be very careful who comes into your bubble.

“When a human goes through something emotional, like losing a grand final or getting sacked, that energy is there for a long time, and it transfers. England should be going to this next World Cup as defending champions.

“I still believe Eddie can win the next World Cup, but there are some things he’s got to change. They need a dramatic change in energy. English rugby needs to back Eddie 200 per cent and let him be the guy with the baseball bat. By doing that, England can win the next World Cup.”

Originally published as Rugby Union 2022: An energy reader hired by Eddie Jones in 2015 has called the England coach soft