[imagesource: Twitter / @adampeacock3]

Going into the weekend’s test match rugby, both Eddie Jones and Ian Foster would have been feeling the heat.

The Wallabies and Jones’ England were tied at one apiece ahead of the series decider, as were Foster’s All Blacks and the Irish.

It appears that Jones will live to fight another day after the Poms came out 21-17 winners at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Australian, who coached the Wallabies from 2001 to 2005 and also had a successful stint with the Springboks in 2007, was said to have been on the receiving end of hostile abuse throughout the course of the match.

Finally, reports RugbyPass, he snapped and confronted a spectator who labelled him a “traitor”:

Got what he deserved from Eddie pic.twitter.com/lUrtzrsB5h

— Adam Peacock (@adampeacock3) July 17, 2022

The man in the crowd is full of beans (and likely beer) until he is confronted by Jones and then it’s very much tail between the legs.

Following the incident, Jones said that “clowns think they have full go to abuse coaches”. Not to condone the abuse, but he didn’t do himself any favours with his comments after England’s win in the second test:

“You have got 48,000 people all full of drink and all they want to see is their team win. When you turn them away, it’s a great experience. A great feeling,” Jones said…

“Before the game they are coming up saying to me you are going to get belted tonight. Now they are a little bit more quiet. So that’s good. I enjoy that.”

They weren’t quiet in Sydney and neither was Jones.

All Blacks coach Foster has never been the sort to run his mouth and, for now at least, he’s clinging on to his job despite a historic series win for Ireland in New Zealand.

The touring side put on a rugby masterclass to beat the All Blacks 32-22. The series win is all the more remarkable when you consider that they lost the first test.

Let’s take a moment to enjoy those highlights:

Despite fans and pundits baying for blood,  New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said Foster will keep his job:

Our focus now is to work with Ian and his team to understand thoroughly in advance of the Rugby Championship what is needed to improve performance and where to from here. We will begin this work immediately. 2/2

— New Zealand Rugby (@NZRugby) July 17, 2022

Stuff has put together a list of damning All Black stats, including this table showing Foster has the worst win record of any coach since Eric Watson back in 1979-1980:

Image: Stuff

The All Blacks head to South Africa soon to take on the Springboks in Mbombela and Johannesburg.

If we can rack up two wins there, that will surely be the nail in the coffin for Foster.

[sources:rugbypass&stuff]