‘I’ve seen Tiger Woods miss putts. I’ve seen Michael Jordan miss jump shots. Everyone has a bad day. George had a bad day kicking, but I thought the rest of his play was excellent. What amazes me about this press conference is that we’ve just beaten Wales by five tries to one, and we are talking about a guy who can’t kick a few goals.”
The influence of Eddie Jones on English rugby may only be truly appreciated when he is finished, but he has already made short shrift of the fourth estate.
After England’s recent win over Wales, a large portion of the press conference concentrated on George Ford’s struggles with the boot. Jones wasn’t having it.
“It’s quite amazing; it just shows the negative reaction in English rugby. It’s quite sad. I think it’s quite sad.
“When do you beat Wales by five tries to one? Wales are full-strength, and we are missing 11 players. And we’re talking about a kid missing a few kicks.
“I think we need to get some perspective,” Jones sniped.
As a well-travelled Miyagi of the oval ball, Jones has seen every side of the media and knows only too well how they can change their tune more wickedly than the weather in Cape Town.
They loved him when he was in Japanese colours, orchestrating the mother of all upsets over the Boks.
They were intrigued by him when he was in charge of the ACT Brumbies, and crafting a side and playing pattern around a brilliant half-back axis, which then became the Wallaby blueprint for a generation.
Jones, then, has seen it all, and just about done it all.
When you speak to any member of the Springbok 2007 World Cup squad, they wax lyrical about his intellect, and his sharp eye for detail.
So when he brings up that word “perspective”, it comes from a place of considerable wisdom.
He’s not Miyagi for nothing, after all.
It may be his biggest challenge, but if Jones can convince English rugby to shed its eternal inclination for doom and exploit the exciting talent at his disposal, they will be a formidable beast come Japan 2019.
Of course, the very perspective that Jones is demanding is the same spanner that Allister Coetzee requires in his first-year tool kit.
The new Springbok coach and his men started a new era yesterday and he did so with a squad that might take South African rugby in a new direction, given the requisite time to gel and excel.
That direction may not be too far off the path that Johan Ackermann’s Lions frequent in Super Rugby, and that would be no bad thing.
Like Miyagi’s Brumbies at the turn of the century, the Lions dominate the latest Bok squad, as the form team in the land rightly should.
Funnily enough, “Toetie” Coetzee has similar challenges to the modern Miyagi, too.
Elton Jantjies is very much in the Ford mould; a player of considerable skill, also blessed with that rare gift of unpredictability, which can unlock defences with a chip, a shimmy or even a look.
Jantjies also has days when his kicking radar is a bit scatter-gun, but even those percentages are up this year.
That’s what happens when a mercurial player is encouraged to pull out his full bag of tricks, which Ackermann has done and Coetzee, no doubt, will follow suit.
We’ve seen Ford miss kicks. We have seen Jantjies miss kicks. But in between their occasional dry spells, both players have the inherent ability to mesmerise the opposition.
Now, finally, both pivots may just have a couple of masters who understand that they cannot be judged solely on their boot, but by their all-round skills.
And with that encouragement in mind, they may yet bloom into the game-breakers both sides – and international rugby – desperately crave.
Here’s to the reigns of Miyagi and Toetie. And, perhaps, a touch of perspective.