Eddie Jones gets into Springboks gear
Columnist By Spiro Zavos, 29 Jul 2007 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert
4,783 readsIs there something wrong with Eddie Jones getting into Springboks gear and helping out in coaching the side in its pre-World Cup training session?I reckon there is. Jones has been paid big money to coach Australia and Queensland. He has picked up a great deal of intellectual rugby property from the Australian system. He should not be passing this on to a side that could well be facing the Wallabies some time in the World Cup tournament.
There is a precedent for what Jones has been doing, of course, with Graham Henry and Steve Hansen, the current head coach and forwards coach of the All Blacks, coaching Wales before they got their NZ gigs. But Henry and Hansen were hardly bringing back any intellectual rugby property from Wales. They were delivering intellectual property to Welsh rugby from the NZ system.
It doesn’t seem right for Eddie Jones to be so supportive and helpful to the Springboks. There seems to be an element of payback in all of this. A former Wallaby coach should not be making it harder for the Australia to win the 2007 World Cup than it already will be.
Thanks to Temba for this photo of Eddie in the ‘Boks gear:
Spiro Zavos, a founding writer on The Roar, was long time editorial writer on the Sydney Morning Herald, where he started a rugby column that has run for nearly 30 years. Spiro has written 12 books: fiction, biography, politics and histories of Australian, New Zealand, British and South African rugby. He is regarded as one of the foremost writers on rugby throughout the world.
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July 29th 2007 @ 12:09pm
Craig L said | July 29th 2007 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
Would be different if Eddie had a success recipe. The Reds did not exactly set the Super 14 contest alight from his innovative coaching and the Wallabies were not exactly constant winners under his coaching. Hopefully his great record helps pull the Boks back a notch, go you good thing!!
July 29th 2007 @ 1:01pm
Chris Beck said | July 29th 2007 @ 1:01pm | Report comment
In the US we have a saying that one could apply here: “It’s a free country.” Which is fine, if one considers this situation in a vacuum. But it sure doesn’t feel like something the previous coach should be doing.
I’m trying to picture Bobby Knight (famous American college basketball coach) hanging out with the Russians or the Brazilians or somebody else after coaching the US team in the Olympics. It would never happen in a million years.
It seems pretty clear that Eddie Jones’s loyalties lie squarely with Eddie Jones.
July 29th 2007 @ 1:23pm
Spiro Zavos said | July 29th 2007 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
I agree with this. Particularly with the major national rugby sides, coaches with intellectual property from a national side should not take this property to a challenging side. Eddie Jones is saying that he has been out of the Wallabies for a year or so but he still has a good idea of many of the plays and strategies (he devised some of them!) that the Wallabies will want to use in France.
As Chris suggests this is an example of a coach putting his loyalty to his former team well behind his loyalty to his own wounded feelings.
I noticed in Danny Weidler’s sports gossip column in the Sun-Herald a snide reference to John O’Neill making a fool of himself in rugby circles with his attack on Eddie Jones. I think some disinformation from the ubiquitous managers is going on here. All my contacts in rugby felt that O’Neill was spot on in his criticism.
July 29th 2007 @ 2:19pm
Craig L said | July 29th 2007 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
Eddie’s obviously doing his best to burn bridges with Australian rugby and you’d have to say he must never want to work in Rugby in this country again, who would ever trust him? O’Neill is just making sure everyone in Rugby understands that Eddie is on a one way street. His underlying theme is also that loyalty is everything and he’s going to demand it of everyone associated with the game in Australia.
Danny Weidler is just anti Rugby and obviously has a very big barrow to push in terms of Channel 9′s involvement in league and the need to put Rugby down at every opportunity.
July 29th 2007 @ 2:23pm
dickson said | July 29th 2007 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
In my opinion i feel it’s bad form on the part of eddie jones to be involved with the Boks so close to exiting as both a national coach and as coach of the Reds. Some might say its no different from moving from one province to the next and taking any ‘intellectual info’ you might have gained with you and using it against your former province. But to me the difference here is that Jones has no future commitment to any form of South African rugby. From the outside looking in he appears to be doing this just to improve the SA chances in a tournament his former charges are involved in. To me thats not on.
July 29th 2007 @ 2:54pm
Chris Beck said | July 29th 2007 @ 2:54pm | Report comment
Even if Connolly changed the playbook, a good many of the players that played for Jones at the Wallabies are still with the Wallabies. So at a minimum he knows some of the tendencies of the players.
And although he’s been out of the Wallaby job for a year or so, he did just spend the past year in charge of the Reds, a few of whom managed to make the Walalby squad.
Which brings up another point. To the extent that Connolly was able to convince the Australian Super 14 teams to do things that were in the direction of what he was planning for the World Cup, that’s another chunk of intellectual property Jones is carrying around inside his head. If that’s even slightly the case, Wallaby fans must certainly hope that the Reds record last year doesn’t reflect either (a) the soundness of Connolly’s plan or (b) the degree to which the plan can be successfully implimented.
July 29th 2007 @ 4:35pm
slomo said | July 29th 2007 @ 4:35pm | Report comment
What a bunch of hypocrites. Australian rugby ran Eddie out of town; he was vilified and pilloried as the worst coach ever. Yet here he is, trying to earn a living and you all accuse him of treason.
You get fired, you go get another job. It’s up to you who you work for.
Australia steals players from Argentina and then from South Africa and of course that’s OK. But as soon as a coach tries to earn his living by doing what he does, somehow that’s no good.
One standard for Australia and another one for everyone else.
July 29th 2007 @ 7:44pm
Enrique (Topo) Rodriguez said | July 29th 2007 @ 7:44pm | Report comment
I’m baaack!
Could not let it pass, I wanted to help Slomo.
Mate, don’t know you, but you seem to be a corageous sort of bloke. I support your notion of “double standars” we shouldn’t be surprised, this is quite common in Australian Sports particularly……when we’re loosing! Re: Argentine, South African, Fijian, Tongan players etc. you are WAY OFF the mark! I know well, we all came to Australia out of our own volition, of course the difference is: some got money…. and others got: thank you!
Please, please, please, let’s keep our collective “focus” and apply “the torch” in the right spot at the under belly of administration. After all WE ARE THE SHAREHOLDERS of this sport.
The IRB should have managed PROFESSIONALISM from the beginning, they should have well thought out the rules to prevent “canibalism”. The ARU, NZRU, S.Africa RU or FIJI RU, should have sorted out beforehand the conditions for departure of personnel.
Every company fiercely protects its intellectual property, by the way the learning process is a two way for players, coaches and administrators. (here is where the lawyers will make a mint re-wording the contracts! – Has to be done!)
I’m not about to defend E.Jones, far from it, his legacy has been very divisive and destructive. Under his 4 years of mentorship our Forwards forgot how to play like a PACK and to scrummage like MEN!!! He should have never been allowed to be involved in any capacity with any of the Super 14 Teams for at least 2 years. We saw the wrangle early on this year with J.Connolly regarding C.Latham’s injury (rest my case).
Hang on Slomo, I think I can hear voices before the RWC Final, that it was E.Jones’ fault why we were eliminated from it………!!
tOPO
July 29th 2007 @ 8:41pm
KF said | July 29th 2007 @ 8:41pm | Report comment
Hi
I do not believe that this was Mr Jones’ “try to earn his living by doing what he does”. I am sure he has a number of less controversial options up his sleeve, like…., errr… Saracens, maybe? Or Japan? I would not think that anyone would had any second thoughts if he took up those positions.
Kind regards
KF
July 29th 2007 @ 8:58pm
Danny said | July 29th 2007 @ 8:58pm | Report comment
Good, so we’re all agreed that Robbie Deans, former AB assistant coach and the most successful super rugby coach of the modern era, IS OFF LIMITS TO AUSTRALIA.
What’s that John – no you say? Robbie is fair game but Eddie can only coach teams ranked lower than 10?
Not wanting to flog a dead horse here, but has the simultaneous holding of opposite positions on the same issue – eg bad refereeing is good when it favours me but bad when it doesn’t – been elevated to some kind of national sport in its own right in Australian recently?