Eddie Jones has insisted there will be no conflict of loyalties when he coaches England against his native Australia for the first time next year.
Jones was in charge of the Wallabies when they lost the 2003 World Cup final to England in Sydney.
But on Friday he became England’s new head coach after Stuart Lancaster stepped down following the team’s group stage exit at the World Cup — the worst performance by a host nation in the tournament’s history.
Jones’s first match in charge of England will be their Six Nations opener away to Scotland on February 6, but June 2016 sees the Red Rose brigade travelling to Australia for a three-Test series against the Wallabies against his former Randwick teammate Michael Cheika.
The new England coach enhanced his reputation at this year’s World Cup by guiding unheralded Japan to three wins, including a shock defeat of South Africa, told a Twickenham press conference on Friday he would relish the challenge against Australia.
“Obviously, when you are playing against your own country, you feel something,” said Jones, who is England’s first foreign head coach.
“Everyone’s normal. But I can guarantee you that when we get to that starting line, I’ll be 100 per cent committed to England.”
Jones’s appointment means that all four Home Nations now have an overseas coach, with Wales, Ireland and Scotland led by a trio of New Zealanders in Warren Gatland, Joe Schmidt and Vern Cotter.
One of the tasks the RFU have given Jones, who has signed a four-year contract, is to develop homegrown coaches who are in a position to take over from him following the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
“I will be 59 by the next World Cup and I will be watching cricket in Barbados. That is one of my dreams,” Jones said.
“Everyone wants to have their own nationalities as a head coach and I understand that.”
Jones, who left Japan to join the Stormers after the World Cup only to be in charge of the South African provincial side for a matter of days before the RFU came calling, wanted to develop an England game based on their traditional set-piece strengths.
“If we get that right, then we’ll have a strong side,” he said.
Jones wants a captain in the mould of retired New Zealand great Richie McCaw.
“The first thing with a captain is that he has to be one of the first players selected,” Jones said.
“Those stories about Richie McCaw are true. In training they go from one drill to the next and he sprints there, he’s the first there. He cleans the changing room after the game and that’s the sort of guy you want.”
During the World Cup, Jones wrote that current England captain Chris Robshaw was not a genuine openside flanker.
That led to speculation that Robshaw may not have much of a test future, let alone as captain, under Jones.
“I was being a bit naughty. One of the first things I have to do is sit down with Chris and chat to him,” Jones said.
“As with all the players, he’s starting from zero. There’s always an opportunity to change things and he’s in that position.”
Old Bugger
Guest
Japan will face the ABs during the Sanzar RC champs - no need to wait until the next couple of RWC's.
Old Bugger
Guest
cuw And then we'll wait for Gregan's favourable review followed quickly by Kafer's review.....IMO, it's par for the course that someone who has played under, with or coached alongside another, will come out with a glittering response to everyone else who is not so certain, about that person's selection. Actions speak louder than words and this guy has reset the benchmark when it comes to "barking before biting". Just think of EJ's bark in response to Cotter's (Scots coach) remarks following Japan's defeat of the Bokke - Eddie suggested his Blossoms will repeat the dose against Scotland only to suffer, an embarrassing 45pt loss. This was the game that cost Japan their entry into the RWC finals series - how a side can win 3 pool games and fail to qualify is in the same league as the first host to be knocked out prior to, an RWC finals campaign.....oh and btw, guess who will be the common denominator, for both sides?? You got it......Mr EJ himself. History does serve up some quirky moments sometimes, dunnit??
Not Bothered
Guest
Yeah I did see Skeltons guts hanging out. That clearly makes every single Wallaby fat.
Not Bothered
Guest
Its not well known that they are fat, thats absurd. Why do people say such idi0tic things. Let me try it. The Wallabies all have afro haircuts. The French team have no ears. The Welsh team all look like poodles. The Boks cant walk backwards. The ABs walk on their hands.
Ken
Guest
You obviously didn`t see vunipola guts hanging out ??
cuw
Guest
OB modern day coaches with the modern day sports lawyers are a happy bunch. it is almost as costly to fire them as to hire them. just look at the ex england coach and his puppys. they will get a nice packet to go home even though they were rubbish !! if jones is sacked before the end of his contract he will be still rich for it :) why do u think those footy coaches are kept despite dismal results? becoz there are no pre-nups in sports contracts. suggest u read this article by former wallaby, ben darwin about jones. u will get some idea about the man.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3328706/Eddie-Jones-scare-ll-curse-inside-track-England-s-new-head-coach.html
cuw
Guest
so u seem to know something about the draw everyone else doesn't?
cuw
Guest
LOL and just to add - there are 20 teams in the EPL and only 5 English managers !!!! AND 9 English captains !!!!!!! at least its better in the Aviva - 12 clubs , 7 English coaches and 10 English captains :)
Markus
Guest
With Japan it is entirely possible that Smith could coach them for the next two rugby world cups and still never face the All Blacks.
Old Bugger
Guest
Sorry to be the party-pooper to your suggestion but Smith has already stated that he would never coach a side against the ABs. To that end, I'd offer Link's name as a candidate considering, after his treatment last year by all in WB-land, he'd have no baggage to prevent him coaching a side, against the WBs....whaddaya think about that??
Playmaker
Guest
Now that Eddie is gone , Japan should look at W Smith as a possible coach for 2017 .The Kiwis shouldn't mine as he would be developing Japanese rugby for the good of rugby.
Lion Down Under
Guest
Except for when Sven Goran-Eriksonn and then Fabio Cappello managed the English National football team. That type of never?
P2R2
Roar Rookie
if you didnt see that during this RWC you must have had eye problems...it is well known they are fat....anyway I think the English players will sabotage Jones....imagine the soccer team having a foreign coach...would never happen
Not Bothered
Guest
Just to add, Imo what Eng need is a quality backs coach like Larkham or Smith. They need one in the same way that Aus needed a quality scrum coach. They have the players, Brown, Nowell, Watson, Yarde, May and Ashton provide class options in the back 3, Joseph, Tuilagi, Slade and a couple of other centres give them quality pairing options and Ford, Cipriani, Youngs, Care and Farrell should provide them with a quality halves pairing but they dont function properly often enough. Sure, Lancaster used about 20 different centre pairings and then dropped or overlooked nearly all of them when it came to the crunch for 2 guys that were new to the international level and in Burgesses case, not able to play centre well enough at club level let alone international level. I'd hope that Eddie will play musical chairs with the centre positions before selecting a guy not good enough to hold down a club spot there. The English team is not in a mess or a rabble, this is hyperbole based on a WC in which they lost 2 a superb Aus (the RC champs and WC finalists) and a Welsh team that managed to come back in the final moments to gain the lead in freakish fashion before England passed up an opportunity to draw the game (which would have sent them through to the finals). Its not as if they came last in the RC and lost to Japan, is it?
Not Bothered
Guest
Its an interesting choice of coach. Imo coaches are picked in knee-jerk reactionary fashion too often and I cant help but feel that did, at least, help get Jones the job. I felt that McKenzie was given the job as Wallabies coach in a similar way, based on the teams performance a year or 2 earlier and there is no foubt in my mind that 95% of team success is the teams doing, not the coaches. A coach will go from 1 team to another and wont bring success with him unless the players are there. That is a fact and proven time afyer time. Yet time after time the coach is blamed or credited for the entire teams fortune. Its absolutely ridiculous. Take the Auckland Blues, how many coahes will that team cast aside before they realise that it doesnt seem to make a massive difference who coaches them? It appears that it continues to be the coaches fault year after year and coach after coach. No doubt when things turn a coach will build his career on others patting him on the back for changing the teams fortune and no doubt that coach wont be able to wave his magic wand over other teams unless the players are there. Players make coaches. Its that simple. Dont get me wrong, I do think coaching matters, Im not that f00lish but I do think that a coach is part of a team and it is obviously the team that earns wins and losses, not the coach alone. A coach is like a player imo, in the sense that there are good ones and bad ones, some have particular skills and some suit some teams better than others. Cheika has been good for Aus in the sense that he has managed to harden the Aus forward pack up and hired a scrum coach that has really made leaps and bounds with the scrum. Would Cheika be good for NZ? Who knows but I do know that it apears that a coaches ability to improve a team greatly changes from team to team and thats a fact.
Not Bothered
Guest
Sheesh people like you are annoying. In what way are the English fat? But thanks for telling us how bad Eng are, Eddie is and how Japan would do whatever he wants despite him being unable to motivate anyone.
Not Bothered
Guest
Positive as always.
Old Bugger
Guest
EJ will be looking forward to every team his side will meet - its the only way that he can show his KPI's to earn the salary, he has signed on for. I mean, his bucket-list includes watching cricket in Barbados - who releases their wish-list before they've earned their wage?? Well, EJ for starters.....so, go figure where England's rugby future lies - on the cricket pitches in Barbados, of course!!
stillmissit
Roar Guru
They will go well in the first year then as the Eddie the eye effect starts to take hold the rot will start to show. He should have stayed with Japan they will do whatever he says regardless of how hair brained it is. The fat England players had better improve their beep numbers, sprint speeds, tackle counts, positional play and all the other stats he uses to drive a team. What he can't do is motivate a team.
Squirrel
Guest
Poor old England with Eddie in charge wallabies by 30