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Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh admits he would consider Eddie Jones disloyal if it is proven under-siege Wallabies coach participated in an interview with the Japan Rugby Football Union on the eve of the World Cup to replace the outgoing Jamie Joseph.
Waugh, who remains in Paris despite the Wallabies’ campaign ending more than a week ago, spoke with 2GB on Wednesday to address Jones’ future after a month of negative headlines surrounding the coach and indeed the game.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported less than 24 hours out from the Wallabies’ 40-6 loss to Wales that Jones was on a Zoom interview with the JFRU on August 25 – two weeks out from the side’s World Cup opener.
It came after an earlier report out of Japan suggesting Jones was still in the frame to return to the Japanese head coaching role eight years after leaving it.
Since then, there have been several reports linking Jones to the role.
It has been reported that Jones is one of three candidates asked for a second interview with the JFRU.
All Blacks assistant Scott McLeod and Frans Ludeke, who led Kubota to this year’s League One title, are reportedly the other candidates. Brave Blossoms assistant Tony Brown has also been thrown up in some circles, too.
All along, however, Jones has distanced himself from the report.
“I’m staying. I’ve always been committed to Australian rugby, want to leave it in a better place and that’s still the job,” said Jones, who signed a five-year deal with RA in January.
Jones’ relationship with Japan, especially Suntory – the Japanese League One club he has a long-standing relationship with for three decades and remains a consultant for – has always divided opinion.
Even before the veteran coach jumped on board in January, RA understood and accepted his relationship with Suntory and knew of his close relationship with Japan president Masato Tsuchida.
Indeed, in the final days of Jones’ seven-year tenure with the Rugby Football Union and in the weeks that followed, RA knew Jones was weighing up whether to join the Wallabies or return to Japan.
Jones, too, held talks with the JFRU before committing to the Wallabies.
That commitment is now very much up for debate.
Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones speaks to the media during a Rugby Australia press conference at Coogee Oval on October 17, 2023 in Sydney. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Waugh, who has been in constant communication with the Wallabies coach and visited the team base late last month, told 2GB’s Chris O’Keefe that Jones had repeatedly denied to him any link to the interviewing process.
“As I’ve said quite publicly, Eddie said to me that he hasn’t had that [interview] and he said that to me a number of times, and I’ll take him for his word,” Waugh said.
“It’s not my responsibility to speculate or go and talk to the Japanese Rugby Football Union and ask them whether they’ve met with Eddie.
“Eddie’s said no. Everyone would be very, very disappointed if he had, particularly given the stage that we were at going into the World Cup. As we go forward that will become clear.”
Asked whether he would consider Jones “disloyal” if, indeed, he did interview for the vacant role, Waugh didn’t dispute the description.
“Anyone of a reasonable mind would say that if those conversations did occur, going into a World Cup, then I think that would be an appropriate assumption,” he said.
Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh says Eddie Jones will have been disloyal if reports linking him to the vacant Japanese head coaching role prove to be true. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Put to him that that would be a “big call”, Waugh disagreed: “It’s not a big call. That’d be fair to say that if those conversations were occurring in the middle of a World Cup campaign for Australia, at a World Cup that we were going to win, then it would be disappointing.”
Would it be a breach of contract?
“Contracts are interesting, as you know. I’m not going to get into the legalities of the wording within a contract,” he said.
“The reality is that we were clearly very disappointing in the World Cup. And we’ve let down Australians that put the trust and belief in the environment to do well. It’s been disappointing and we’ve got a lot to do in terms of regaining the trust of the public.”
Waugh, who played under Jones at the 2003 World Cup, would not hypothesise whether the veteran Wallabies coach was playing Rugby Australia in the hope of a pay out.
“There’s speculation on a lot of those things, it’s still pretty raw,” he said.
“We need to do a thorough assessment of our performance and the campaign, which we’re in the process of doing and, hopefully, we can do that really quickly. There’ll be recommendations from that review.”
Waugh, who acknowledged that history showed the Wallabies got their World Cup selection wrong, also sidestepped how Jones was still in the role.
“We’ll work through the assessment of the campaign and then obviously there’ll be recommendations on that and then we’ll act on those,” he said.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.