21 Dec 2008

Eddie Jones upsets Ian McGeechan

10:01 am on 21 December 2008

The Saracens rugby coach Eddie Jones has angered Wasps boss Ian McGeechan after refusing to rule out an attempt to lure England outside-half Danny Cipriani away from their London rugby rivals.

Wasps, the English champions, have 19 players out of contract at the end of the season, including Cipriani and England back-row James Haskell.

After seeing his side concede three tries in the last 10 minutestoday, as they lost 33-24 away to Wasps, Jones says he's interested in anyone that is a good player and can help Saracens.

But McGeechan is in no mood to discuss the future of his star players and says the contract situation is not unsettling any of the players and they are our business not yours.

Elsewhere, London Irish stayed top of the table with a 42-12 home thrashing of Gloucester.

Harlequins, fresh from their memorable back-to-back European Cup wins against Stade Francais, came back down to earth with a 23-13 loss away to Northampton at Franklin's Gardens.

Leicester has beaten Newcastle 20-3 to inflict the Falcons' fifth straight league defeat.

Bath has gone into second place after downing Sale 24-20.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table Bristol remained bottom but closed to within a point of fellow strugglers Newcastle after a 20-20 away draw with Worcester.