PARIS – When Hamish McLennan welcomed Eddie Jones back to the helm of the Wallabies this year he compared the 63-year-old coach to a “tough feral, mongrel.”
Jones was to be the Pitbull putting the snarl back into the Wallabies set-up after the Kumbaya Dave love-in. In reality, Jones has rolled over for a tummy tickle – surrendering a World Cup campaign along the way. And for what, the fool’s gold of a glittering future?
The World Cup has two weeks to run, and Jones is back in Sydney while old rivals England, New Zealand and South Africa are in the final four along with Argentina – a nation Australia has lost to just eight times in 39 Tests.
On Tuesday Jones faced the media and said a lot things those of us who have been asking questions have heard ad nauseum – justifying the disaster that befell his team in France, tripping over his own tongue.
He is like The Pilgrim from the song by American country singer Kris Kristofferson – “A walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, takin’ every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”
There was one telling moment in the talk of alignment and Japan, that showed just what a hash he’s made of it all.
Jones was asked who he thought might win the tournament – one he will be watching from afar.
“I love the Kiwis. There’s two sorts of games at the moment at the World Cup. And a lot of it depends on the referee,” Jones told reporters.
“You saw Wayne Barnes referee the contest and continuity really well which allowed quick ball which allowed the Kiwis to play some fantastic attacking rugby, as did Ireland.
Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones speaks to the media during a Rugby Australia press conference at Coogee Oval on October 17, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“If a referee such as Wayne Barnes has got the semi final and final for the Kiwis they’re a great chance.”
He famously doesn’t sleep, so he should still have plenty of time to prep for the independent review into what went down in France.
Some significant time should be spent on his decisions to select young players and plunge them hopelessly out of their depth. Having repeatedly said he has no regrets about it – despite seeing Carter Gordon flounder under pressure before scapegoating him – it’s unlikely to.
Jones was never really brought in to win the 2027 World Cup and blow off this year’s edition – but he decided rashly that was the path to take, and the fans at home and on the road be damned.
It was a loss against New Zealand, where Quade Cooper failed to see Australia home in Dunedin that is at the core of his over-reaction.
“We weren’t good enough to beat the All Blacks. We had them on toast 17-3 and we couldn’t finish the game off. Let’s be quite factual about that,” said Jones on Tuesday.
“I just thought we’re not going to get anywhere with that group of players. Probably thought they’d maximized themselves out. I always go back to the definition of insanity – keep doing the same thing and expect different results. So I tried something different, went with youth and it will have favourable results further down the track.”
Between November 2021 and August 2022, New Zealand, under Ian Foster, lost six of eight Tests to leave his job in peril. Obits were written for senior players with every loss. Sam Cane was apparently cooked. Where is that guy now?
Sam Cane of New Zealand and Tom Hooper of Australia. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
Of course there is a big difference between Foster and Jones. The New Zealander was given this tournament but no more. With no real future beyond France all he could do was seize the day and he backed the old guys to do it with him – Cane, Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick were all immense in the quarter-final win over Ireland. Big game players in their proper positions.
Jones, in contrast, dropped the knife on the past and the ball on the present.
New Zealand have been a better team than Australia for as long as Jones was absent from Australian rugby. No one will argue Jones had the cattle to win the whole thing. But to see England scrape through to last four and Australia surrender should pain Jones more than it appears to.
His justification is the choices he made are for the good of the long-term health of the code. But on Tuesday, with media asking with straight faces if “rugby is dying”, it seemed obvious that the short term is a bigger worry.
“I don’t think it’s dying. But I think we’re in a difficult situation. If I look at when I left to now, like the difference between the NRL and the AFL to where I was, is massive. That’s definitely affected our talent pool,” Jones said.
“We’ve got to work harder in those areas. We’ve not only got to fix things at the top level, we’ve got to fix things at the talent identification, recruitment, development level. We’ve got to get more players in the game better players in the game and at the moment the NRL is stealing them all.”
Jones is a man of contradictions – in public at least. He talks about backing youth – but only some youth. He refuses to discuss his selections of players who aren’t picked. The fact we don’t know why he didn’t take Len Ikitau to the World Cup with a minor injury but others were on the plane, drives some fans nuts.
Those contradictions were in full glare again on Tuesday, when he was talking about alignment in the game.
“I’m not an administrator, so I don’t know how to do it. I’m just a basic coach,” pleaded Jones. “I go out there with a whistle, blow the whistle, yell and scream, put my arm around the player every now and then. So I can’t tell you how to do that and I won’t try to tell you how to do it – it’s for smarter people than me.”
Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones speaks to the media during a Rugby Australia press conference at Coogee Oval on October 17, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Next minute, he was trying to tell us how to do it, and making sure we knew he wants to be deeply involved in the process.
“My commitment is to put Australia in a better place, and you’ve got to have things operating to put it in a better place, and part of it is making sure we get better alignment. I’ve got to help drive that with the CEO and the chairman,” said Jones.
In France I asked Jones if he would consider a job “upstairs” working as a coach of coaches or in strategy. Something that might suit someone more focused on 2027 than the right here right now.
It was the same answer.
“I’m not an administrator, like I love being out on the pitch,” said Jones. “I love the game. I don’t love politics. I’m not a politician at all. Never have been, never will be.”
Rugby Australia is in the process of hiring a high performance director, which Jones believes is crucial.
And that leads us to one more big contradiction.
“There’s a need for someone to be looking after tomorrow. That’s really important,” said Jones in France.
“The national coach looks after today but there’s a need for someone to be strategic about planning what’s needed for Australian rugby to be sustainably successful, and that’s where you need a high performance director.”
So who in this scenario was the coach “looking after today” while Jones was picking a squad for 2027?
Ruckin' Oaf
Roar Rookie
That's assuming those coaches were listened too. Some at RA seemed very keen on Jones as a coach despite the circumstances in which he was available
Muttley
Roar Rookie
We all know now Jones was in it for the croissants
jameswm
Roar Guru
It wasn’t originally the stated plan
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
I don’t think you followed his career very closely. Only in the last years did he kick effectively. Conrad Smith ran defence and was the central distributor. Mama Nonu was a highly effective cannonball for his entire career. That he added some strings to his bow in the later stages misses the point. Samu, unfortunately playing in Japan and just coming back from injury I agree has regressed from where he was. But to drop him from the squad is foolish. Australia are not deep in experienced 12’s… Foketi and Kerevi are it and they can both hold their own. To focus on Samu, when you have rubbish inside and outside him. A completely unsettled and unbalanced back row, low work rate locks whose best work is in and around the fat man’s tracks. But it’s Samu at 12 that is the fail point. That in my opinion holds no water and is flat out wrong.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
Don’t mind losing = accepted as part of playing sport… Everyone I know appreciates that losing comes with the territory so accept that. Everyone I know wants to see their team perform to the best of their ability and can accept losing (hence don’t mind). I think your individual preferences are what is colouring your opinion as I don’t think people would follow sport like rugby, soccer, basketball etc. if they just wanted to see winners, much in the same way you suggested my views were colouring my opinion, where you said I shouldn’t say most Australians, I should just say me… so don’t get all bent up now when I apply the same logic you seemed to deem fit earlier.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
With a near identical hiring process.
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
Rennie was a good choice by Castle. his results are a lot better then Jones' with the same players.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I'd love there to be some rhyme or reason behind it. The rest of that quote is: “We weren’t good enough to beat the All Blacks. We had them on toast 17-3 and we couldn’t finish the game off. Let’s be quite factual about that,” said Jones on Tuesday. “I just thought we’re not going to get anywhere with that group of players. It's bizarre that he claims to have changed that group: Wallabies (15-1) Andrew Kellaway; Mark Nawaqanitawase, Jordan Petaia, Samu Kerevi; Marika Koroibete, Carter Gordon, Tate McDermott (capt); Rob Valetini, Tom Hooper, Fraser McReight; Richie Arnold, Nick Frost; Pone Fa'amausili, David Porecki, Angus Bell Reserves: Matt Faessler, James Slipper, Zane Nonggorr, Will Skelton, Rob Leota, Nic White, Quade Cooper, Izaia Perese. Only Cooper and Perese weren't in his following first choice 23s. I think Eddie is following the Trump playbook. Say things that are obviously untrue so that people focus on those comments, distracting us from the real issues.
Sage
Roar Rookie
True. Maybe it was just an easier way of getting rid of Cooper & the "theory" then aimed at Hooper. “I just thought we’re not going to get anywhere with that group of players". Maybe he already held that view hence the Samu, Hodge removal prior and then Quade cemented it. Who knows. I'm just trying to understand and make some sense of things.
jeznez
Roar Guru
My take is just reinterpreting history again. And not even making sense when doing it. He's saying he knew he had to change the team after the Dunedin match but didn't actually change that team. That group was pretty much his first choice from that point on. The difference was Skelton having been rested back to starting. Donaldson/Vunivalu in for Cooper/Kellaway. There was minimal change. By this stage he'd already dropped Pete Samu, Jed Holloway, Reece Hodge and Tom Wright. Refused to consider Rory Arnold. Ignored the likes of Scott Sio, Tolu Latu, Tawera Kerr-Barlow. The Michael Hooper exclusion I can understand the reasoning but leaving out Len Ikitau I will never understand. The fact he never considered the likes of Harry Wilson, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Sam Talakai beyond the A's along with the guys above says he's just making stuff up. He didn't change the team after the very match he says convinced him he had to change it.
Tim J
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :thumbup:
Sage
Roar Rookie
This is true, with the main targets being Cooper from the Bled squad 23 and Hooper from outside the squad. That was his rationale as reflected in the WC squad and seemed a reasonable thought process at the time as I noted. It didn't work obviously and in hindsight was totally the wrong call. My comment was that I could now see the why.
Mitch
Roar Rookie
Big picture on Aussie Rugby. Last 20 years, a slow decline in quality and fan base. Rugby still dwells in the pit of the school tie. Small gene pool. Who relates to the word ’franchise’. A footy team is a club. In Australia, NRL and AFL codes are better to watch. Fast and attacking. Who wants to watch referees blowing up scrums, repacking. A penalty at every set piece. Boring. Yes there are the purists who love the technical stuff. They’re in the minority and would be back to Uni ruggers on the ABC Saturdays with Gordon Bray. Australian Rugby is too far gone to ever get back to win at international level. Technically too difficult to attract Aussie youngsters and parents. No kids. No game.
Noodles
Roar Rookie
Fair points Qualify. The damage was done by disrupting a squad under Rennie that had developed competitive performance and was heading into RWC at full strength. That's down to the Hamster. But you can't ignore the fact that EJ lost the whole coaching group and replaced them with people who had no connection with the WBs (or even rugby in some cases). He then decided that experience didn't matter and selected a squad of untested, inexperienced players who played like they had no coach at all. In sum, I can't see why the Hamster and EJ can credibly claim to be the future of Australian rugby. They seem to be a proven liability.
Heywood
Roar Rookie
Well said, could agree more!
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
This is a touch revisionist. He came in specifically to depower Cheika and when you say "best teams" this was not reflected in results. He's a classic example of what has been wrong with Australian Rugby over the last 2 decades. He was another "jobs for the gang"... Just the wrong gang. And while we're posthumously praising Castle remember she basically had Rennie appointed before Cheika was moved on. Just Australian Rugby Things™
Ozrugbynut
Roar Rookie
Agreed. We will look back on this, if we agree to implement centralisation or other aligned structures, as the result we had to have to reset and reboot this code.
Ozrugbynut
Roar Rookie
Well the stated plan was primarily about longer term pay off but most of the picks should have done the job this WC.
RogerTheCabinBoy
Roar Rookie
Ma’a Nonu’s kicking and passing was exceptional. Wayne smith called him one of the most natural kickers he’d ever worked with. There’s a YouTube video detailing exactly that. V easy to find. Passing was also exceptional
Dahl
Roar Rookie
The issue is not that he wants the wallabies to win. The issue is that he’s paid professionally to create the conditions for the wallabies to win. And people who (through memberships, sponsorships, viewing and participation) have a stake in the success of the wallabies have not got much evidence to show that the conditions for the wallabies to succeed are there. Most evidence is to the contrary, including their lack of success.