Eddie Jones: Saracens' England players need to be in right head space ahead of Six Nations

The Premiership side were deducted 35 points and fined £5.36m for salary cap breaches

Eddie Jones reveals his admiration for Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola as he reveals his favourite books, while Harry Redknapp also gets a nod!

England head coach Eddie Jones says he wants the Saracens players to be "in the right head space" ahead of the Six Nations.

Sarries were fined £5.36m and deducted 35 points for breaching salary cap rules, leaving them 22 points from safety at present.

The Saracens squad contains a number of England players and there were suggestions they could decide not to play in the Six Nations in order to help out their club.

Jones does not believe that will be the case but he is keen to ensure they are properly focused ahead of the championships in February.

"I've had a chat to Mark McCall (Saracens director of rugby) about it. And he, as I would expect, said there will be no pressure on the players not to play the Six Nations and I believe that," he said.

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"But I'll probably catch up to the players early in the new year and just have a chat with them, see where their heads are, because it's a difficult time to them.

Image: Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje are among several England internationals in Saracens' squad

"A lot of the other clubs are angry with them, which is quite understandable, but they'll be feeling some sort of pressure and I just need to make sure they're in the right head space to play for England."

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The maximum possible fine and points deduction were approved for breaches during three seasons up to and including the 2018-19 campaign and followed a nine-month investigation.

Despite this, McCall maintains there is a "good buzz in the group" as they continue their battle for survival.

Will Greenwood discusses how Saracens can move forward after they decided not to appeal against their 35-point deduction and £5.36m fine

Jones, who says he is friends with Saracens owner Nigel Wray, believes that he would always have the best intentions for the club.

"Well, [the punishment] is what it is," he said. "They think that's the right punishment and if that's the case then, so be it.

"I know Nigel Wray though. He's a good person and a good rugby man and his passion for the sport is outstanding.

"So, maybe as he said, the wrong laws are in place. I don't know. I don't know enough about it and I don't really want to know enough about it because it's not my responsibility, but I know he's a good man."

Jones seeks insight from Premier League bosses

After reaching the Rugby World Cup final in November, Jones has been looking for inspiration from successful coaches in another sport.

Image: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp embraces Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp have both written books on Jones' reading lists, as well as former Premier League managers Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp.

Guardiola and Klopp both won silverware last season, with the former winning the Premier League title and the latter lifting the Champions League.

"Well I've read a fair few. I'm quite an avid reader. Read a lot of Pep's books, read Klopp's books recently," said Jones.

Alex Lozowski says some of the criticism of Saracens on social media has been 'amusing to read' and that it does not bother him

"I'm in great admiration of those two guys, how they coach. And again, both have very distinctive styles. Completely opposite styles, but very distinctive styles.

"Alex Ferguson's book I've read, which was a great read and I've been lucky enough to meet him.

"Then I remember in the last World Cup I read Harry Redknapp's book, which was, humorous, very humorous.

"I really enjoyed it. It sort of showed the character, I think, of being a coach in the older era in London."

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