Eddie Jones may have tried to mess with the Wallabies’ minds ahead of Saturday night’s three Test series opener against England in Brisbane.
But former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns believes the “fanatical” Jones may end up causing more damage to his own players during his tenure as England coach.
Kearns said Jones would make England – then break them.
“I think he will do both,” Kearns told Fox Sports’ The Back Page.
“I think in the short term they will be incredibly successful over the next two to three years – the big question is what happens after that?
“He is a very astute coach but there is a point where the fanatical work ethic goes too far.”
Former Wallabies mentor Jones has done his best to get under Australia’s skin with several cheeky jabs.
He has even predicted the Wallabies team for Saturday’s clash.
Jones has also made every post a winner since inheriting the reins after England’s 2015 World Cup pool group exit, guiding them to their first Grand Slam since 2003 on their way to winning the Six Nations in March.
Kearns said Jones got results – but sometimes at a high price.
He said some former international players under Jones had vowed never to work with the coach again.
“There’s not a lot of people in the world of Eddie Jones,” Kearns said.
“There’s one bloke – and that’s him. That’s his world.
“I actually think he is a good guy.
“But he is massively intense, massively hard working and he ensures his team works hard to the point – I have heard – of overtraining them and really pushing them to the limit.
“I have heard a couple of the guys in the Japan team say they would never play under him again because they could not keep up with the workload it was so intense.”
Kearns added: “It will be interesting to see how over time the Pommies go.”
So far Jones’ mind games aren’t working on Australia.
Wallabies defence coach Nathan Grey successfully deflected one of the Jones barbs on Tuesday – that Australia’s defence had major flaws that could be exploited.
“I think all defensive systems have flaws in them but it’s just a matter of being able to expose them,” Grey said.
Hoy
Roar Guru
TWAS, that and the fact he seems a bit of a mercenary doesn't he??? Coached Japan and was meant to coach their Super team wasn't he? Then outed them to coach the Stormers wasn't it? Then outed them without even landing in South Africa to coach England... that's a bit rough.
Hoy
Roar Guru
I remember there was a heap of pre-season injuries that year... a heap. But you are right... none of us know...
ebop
Guest
Love EJ, what a hoot "Rugby league is not a skillful game, it's a game where you've go to hurt people." Always poking
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Who?, People are just saying what they want to believe. The Aussie rugby public have a dislike for Jones. As a result they hang on his 2 failures (2005 Wallaby season when they had significant injuries and only 3 teams to select from) and the 2007 Reds season whilst just ignoring that he's otherwise had a pretty successful career.
ebop
Guest
How many times has Jones left a coaching position under a stormy cloud?
Goatee
Guest
Nice try Mr Kearns! An attempt to give Eddie a taste of his own medicine methinks. If Kearns can get under his skin or even better into the heads of the players then his comment would have done its job. The thing is, and if their feedback is genuine the England players seem to be enjoying and even thriving under the stewardship of EJ. He appears to be the right man in the right job at the right time for this team. Go Eddie!!
Jack
Guest
It'll go pear shaped before then and it won't be the players. Eddie will turn sour with the English media at the first sign of trouble and he'll be chippy enough to believe he can fight them. No one can fight the media, anywhere in the sporting universe and it'll see Eddieget distracted and eventually lose the job. Seems blatantly obvious to me
Who?
Guest
Isn't it interesting how blokes who haven't worked with a character in 15 years can still have hard and fast opinions..? That there's no chance that people could change over time, or adapt to conditions? The circumstances around English Rugby are very different to those around Japanese Rugby. Eddie would be lucky to have the players for long enough over four years to burn them out.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Was it true though? Didn't Latham tear a pec muscle for example? Unless he was overtraining on the bench press I doubt the training load impacted that one.
Goatee
Guest
Yeah ebop. It's because they spend 24/7 'dodging' bars of soap...
Goatee
Guest
Yeah ebop. Must be because they spend 24/7 'dodging' bars of soap...
Jokerman
Guest
Starting training at 5am that's insane especially continuously. The earliest I ever trained was 8am and that was only ever about three times and players pulled up with hunger pains and other problems. I'm an artist so I very rarely get up before 9am. It will be interesting how it all goes. If this is true and he pushes the team too much it could cause problems later. The All Blacks are really balanced. I saw an interview a while back with Aaron Smith where the coaches often held him back in training to reserve his energy for the Test match ahead. You want the players fit and disciplined, but you need them happy too.
Squirrel
Guest
The English are soft trainers. I think Kearns has a point, they will win this series 3-0 or 2-1 but they will collapse in a heap by the World Cup . They will have a great year though.
Bob Forbes
Guest
Eddie Jones was contracted for a "quick fix" of the English team and to date that's what he has done. Why is his methodology so much in question. His ultimate goal is the rwc in 2019, if as the experts are saying, the team holds together that long. Who apart from the All Blacks have had a long period of world dominance.....because rugby is their "religion" and nobody else has what they have....they are unique in the world of rugby and basically we all understand the reasons why. EJ is having a degree of success and sure it may only last a few years, but shouldn't we be more concerned with what's going on in our own backyard. We also need a run of success and we are about to find out if that's going to happen. Players chasing big money overseas contracts are making the job of southern hemisphere coaches harder.....but its a "level playing field" in that respect.
Hoy
Roar Guru
It was said at the Reds that his season was marred by over-training, with many players going down in pre-season due to workload...
ebop
Guest
Aren't English players a little bit tired before EJ even gets his hands on them?
EastsFootyFan
Roar Guru
He was a little light on detail on Fox when he said this, but I saw him at a PwC event recently with Craig Wing where they went into a fair bit more detail as to why they thought this, and their reasons were based on Jones' history with other teams. For instance, whilst Wing said the experience in Japan was fascinating and very different, he said the level of commitment required by Eddie was insane. They started training for the World Cup last year in April, and their training sessions started at 5am and finished well into the evening every day for 6 days a week. Wing said he's never trained so hard, and that in any other culture but Japan's there's no way you'd maintain team harmony. Even Eddie himself said to Wing at one point "I've never been able to get a gaijin (foreigner) team to train this hard." There are similar stories from his time at other teams, and his level of intensity has only gotten greater over the years, so for a side like England where there's been a fair few internal spats and divisions you'll have to wonder if he'll be able to hold them together with that approach for the entirety of the next few years.
richard
Guest
This is more about what Kearns hopes will happen.There is no definitive evidence to back up his claim.
PeterK
Roar Guru
eddy jones has an incredible work ethic. He noted in his interview the english players were in a comfort zone , complacent. No doubt he has gotten them out of it. Very similar to what Cheika did in fact. Jones is clearly in control and some players may find that yoke hard to bear. They will be weeded out early. The rest will take it until the next rwc, and not 3 years as kearns states. Then if they win the rwc I am sure they will take it longer if they want to be in the team. If they perform poorly at the rwc eddie will not have his contract renewed.
taylorman
Guest
Hmmm, thats certainly one of of the possibilities though Bretts interview doesnt seem to paint the same picture of Kearns impression. Its been done before as well. Henry 'made' the Welsh, beating the Boks for the first time and going on a similar run, then tailed off as well. Hansen just kind of carried on breaking them.