World Cup-winning Wallaby Owen Finegan is wondering how England’s Six Nations champions will cope with one of Eddie Jones’ famous temper tantrums during this year’s historic series in Australia.
Never before have Australia and England – century-and-a-half-old rugby rivals – ever contested a three-Test series.
And rarely before has there been a build-up like this one ahead of the June match-ups in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
But 13 years after being dumped from Australia’s 2003 World Cup squad, Finegan remains bitter and has questioned whether Jones’ famously abrasive coaching style will work with England’s Six Nations champions.
“Winning the 1999 World Cup was great but I really had my mind set on winning the 2003 World Cup,” Finegan said at the launch of the ARU’s new website rugby.com.au.
“So myself and Eddie aren’t the best of mates now.
“We trained for three hours at Narrabeen. Eddie was at the training session and decided to ring me when I was on my way home to tell me that I wasn’t in the World Cup squad.
“He then went up to Brisbane for a week’s training and said ‘if you need any more feedback, go and see Ewen McKenzie’ and I literally haven’t had a conversation with Eddie since that day.
“So myself and Eddie aren’t the best of mates now.”
Finegan, who won a Super Rugby title under Jones at the Brumbies, says level-headed fellow former World Cup-winning Wallaby Stephen Larkham – now in charge of the ACT outfit – was more his cup of tea.
“I can understand the way he organised people,” he said.
“Hence my last article on Stephen Larkham was about how you treat and get the best out of players.
“I am still keen to see how Eddie goes with England because they (the English) are a different personality.
“I am sure in Japan he can tell those guys what to do and have some of his tantrums. But I am not sure how that will work with the English culture.”
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, whose association with his ex-Randwick teammate Jones dates almost 30 years, dismissed talk that the coaching rivalry would be more interesting than the on-field action.
“That is not the case at all my friend. The game is played on the field,” Cheika said.
“Everyone can have a bit of a laugh about those things but, at the end of the day, the game is played on the field.
“Eddie knows that as much as anything else. There will be a bit of fun for sure once we go on the field, it’s going to be full on.”
ScrumJunkie
Guest
Thankfully. Sick and tired of losing gracefully, getting beaten by the better team on the day... It's an Aussie tradition to be pi$$ed when you lose even if the competition is better on paper.
Harry
Guest
Chieka gives me the impression that he doesn't take losing gracefully.
CUW
Guest
i suggest u read daily mail come test -time. Eddie owns a lot of space in that paper and they in turn love his style, which increases circulation :D Somehow Cheika is not a media magnet. he is neither a joker (like Eddie or PDV or Klopp ) nor a dictator ( like Jose Morinho or Pep Guardiola. )
Chracol
Guest
Totally agree but a waiting game is still a game and the off-field game is going to be very interesting between now and June. Cheika can't sit on his hands forever. I'm looking forward to the theatre.
CUW
Guest
IMO , Cheika is playing a waiting game by 1. not getting drawn into a war of words with a guy who is far better with words than himself. 2. not really settled on his team , given the poor performance of auzzy teams in super rugger. Jones has had better prep - he played 6N with a set of guys and after that there has been aviva and euro matches for him to see his main guys. the way i see it he has around 70% of his team already penned. but for cheika its different , his last test was in the world cup - its like ages ago and many things have happened since. he has far more decisions to make than eddie and the last thing he wants now is to concentrate on the things eddie is saying. also unlike chieka , eddie is a master manipulator of the press. during the world cup he wrote a coulmn for daily mail - now imagine that !!!
CUW
Guest
that is one side of the strory. on the other side , BILLY VUNIPULLA , arguably the player of 6N , came out and said how he felt wanted and that has helped him to develop his game. also dont forget Hartley will forever will be indebted to jones - from pariah to skipper :) IMO , whatever OF says is about a grudge he has over the coach who dropped him. i guess every player holds a grudge against teh guy who dropped him. how do u think Higginbotham feels not going to world cup after being the best auzzy 8 in suoper rugger? how do u think Charles Piutau feels after being the best next back , but still being dropped? How do u think Burgess feels being asked to play where he has noeffin idea, and then being made the sacpegoat? (well we do know how he feels ). a coach with a short fuse is nothing new. have u heard of Brian Clough - the man they call the " best football caoach England never had" ? but then look what he managed to achieve , despite being an intolerable sob.
CUW
Guest
too true , that has been missing from rugger ever since the saffers told PDV to go home :P
Chracol
Guest
The interesting thing for me from this read is the response from Michael Cheika. The game is played on the field? Cliche. The game is being played right now and Eddie Jones is on the front foot. He's working night and day to prepare and so is Cheika. We're an educated rugby audience these days. Craig Wing was on TV last night telling us that Eddie had been preparing for the Boks match at the RWC for four years and the team had been preparing for that one game for one year. Eddie Jones is abrasive and also bitter because he feels he was unjustly dismissed from the Australian rugby scene. The Australian coach is also an abrasive type from what I read. I know that doors and linesmen have not escaped his wrath. Everyone can have a bit if a laugh? I don't buy it and if I want to win the game on the field I want my coach winning the game off the field and that's English culture all the way back to Henry V and beyond.
Timbo
Guest
There are three things working in his favour. First, as others mentioned, most people mellow as they get more experience. I've got no idea if this is the case with Jones, but I haven't heard too many stories of explosions either in his coaching stints with the Boks or Japanese. Second, he's surrounded himself with highly respected English coaches in Gustard and Borthwick (with Hatley seemingly about to come on board from Bath), who will I'm sure take the day to day load. Three, England are a very young squad who are, if anything, getting younger with older players being replaced by youngsters making the breakthrough. On the whole younger players, whose places aren't secure, tend to defer to the coach more.
AussieKiwi
Guest
According to James Haskell, Jones is like a nuclear bomb waiting to go off. http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/18/james-haskell-eddie-jones-wasps-england-saracens-interview It will be fascinating to see how Jones' approach works in the medium to longer term with English players. As Finegan suggests, they may not tolerate it as well as the Japanese team. Or maybe he has learnt from experience, dialed down the rage a bit and got the balance better.
Tissot Time
Guest
Petulance is refined with age culminating in Grumpy Old B@stard status which is irreversible.
Who Needs Melon
Roar Guru
Welcome back Melon.
Tissot Time
Guest
Petulance becomes refined with age culminating in Grumpy Old B@stard status
Old Bugger
Guest
You betcha.....!!!
taylorman
Roar Guru
Who cares if it doesn't work, it's the entertainment that counts! Watching Eddie either squirm or prance about like a smiling peacock depending on the results as it goes on will be worth the ticket price anyway. ?
grapeseed
Guest
Considering his diverse experiences over the past 10 years, I assume that Eddie has evolved and moved from all that stuff now. I recall Nathan Sharpe telling me in around 2004 about Eddie's sprays, pretty amazing story actually. But that kind of petulance usually recedes with age and experience.