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No one expected Eddie Jones to be as middle of the road as his predecessor Dave Rennie, but perhaps we weren’t prepared for him to lurch all over it on the journey to the Rugby World Cup.
Five days after Jones set the cat amongst the RA marketing pigeons over his future, Jones has finally opted to clarify what he meant when he said he would be quitting after the World Cup, win or lose. I know this will come as a huge shock to precisely none of you – but he now says he’s staying.
“I’m only coaching to this World Cup,” Jones said on the Evening Standard podcast last week. “I’ve signed, but as I’ve made the mistake before, I’ve stayed too long. So we win the World Cup it will be time to go. If we lose the World Cup it will be time to go.”
The statement came with a cheeky laugh, but it led to some serious questions at Rugby Australia, and few concrete answers.
There were suggestions of rumours that he was in fact intending to leave his contract – which is due to run until 2027 – after France and that this was seen as confirmation of those.
On Monday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Jones “reached out” to them to clarify his position with a one sentence statement: “I am here for five years. But my only concentration is this Rugby World Cup, so I don’t think past that.”
Fair enough. But Jones has had almost a week to nail that line – why it has taken him that long is any one’s guess.
There is no doubt that he would have been better served by telling the podcast host Lawrence Dallaglio that exact sentence during the podcast recording.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones during an Australia Wallabies training camp at Sanctuary Cove on April 18, 2023 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
No one expected Jones to be vanilla and he’s already brought plenty of chocolate sauce to the job – which is some feat considering he’s been with a squad for all of three days since his annoucement.
He was caught scribbling a team list on a pad during the Super round in Melbourne, and has started to shake up the Wallabies with some of the tricks he’s noted for – bringing a cattle prod to awaken Suliasi Vunivalu among them.
And speaking of podcasts Eddie launched his own that rocketed to the top of the charts – only to abandon the project ten episodes in.
It’s been suggested that his comments were another mind game – but to what possible end?
Even if it they weren’t, leaving them hanging there for almost a week certainly was as amateur psychologists and pro rugby men tried to analyse what the actual it all meant .
“I don’t know if I believe it,” former All Black Israel Dagg told SENZ Breakfast.
“Eddie Jones is Eddie Jones, you just (never know) … this might be Eddie Jones having a little ploy.
“He loves to create a little bit of debate, keep everyone on the edges of their seats (and) not getting comfortable.
“Obviously with Andy Marinos going, there’s a big reason why he’s obviously signed with Rugby Australia because they’ve got a really good friendship (and) that might have repercussions.
“That might be the reason why, it probably is the reason why.”
Elsewhere across the ditch, Stuff columnist Richard Knowler was among those taking Eddie’s words on face value and suggested it was a further sign of the instability of Australian rugby under Hamish McLennan.
“While the imminent departure of Marinos, and the potential loss of Jones, won’t have an impact on the final month of SRP, the ongoing dramas at Rugby Australia highlight, once again, that the outfit charged with looking after the game’s wellbeing in that country is enduring a wild ride under brash chairman Hamish McLennan,”he wrote.
“Should New Zealanders be worried? Maybe. If Rugby Australia is humming that should flow down to SRP; if their five teams are competitive, it can only be good for the trans-Tasman competition.
“If Jones walks into the sunset, it creates more instability. While a national coach may not be directly involved with an SRP club, his power and influence shouldn’t be underestimated.”
What else shouldn’t be underestimated is Jones’ ability to make a scene wherever he goes. The question is will the Eddie sideshow help the Wallabies be a better rugby team. Or is all just to amuse one man?