TOKYO: Natto – or fermented soybeans – is the Japanese equivalent of Vegemite in that people generally love it or hate it.
Given events of the last few months, the two foods are a good way of starting off a piece on how people currently feel about Eddie Jones, who is expected to be confirmed as the new head coach of the Brave Blossoms on Wednesday evening following a board meeting of the Japan Rugby Football Union.
Jones has always been an enigma – a man and coach that you either get along with or don’t. And that continues to be the case not just in England and Australia, whose national teams he has left in short succession under clouds of vitriol, but also in Japan where he is regarded as either the homecoming hero or yesterday’s man.
So is the Jones saga a simple tale of lies and betrayal that many have portrayed? And why is he returning to a job he held from 2012-15?
Back in December 2022, Jones told this writer during a face-to-face interview in Tokyo shortly after being sacked by England that he had loved his time in Japan “and if Japan were interested, I would be interested. But the interest has to come from the other side.”
He went on to say “there’s a couple of offers floating around, so I will make sure I do due diligence for the next job I take as it will probably be the last job I do and I want to make sure it is a good one.”
As it turned out, it appeared on the surface there was no interest from Japan (perhaps because Jamie Joseph had still not announced his plans post-Rugby World Cup 2023) and Jones’ next job ended up being with the Wallabies.
“Like everything in life, there is a start and an end, and I want to close that cycle, as it were. I started professional coaching in Japan and Australia, and probably one of those two places would be a good place to finish.”
Eddie Jones in faces the media during a Japan Press Conference at the Hilton Hotel on September 21, 2015 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
But as we have since found out, Australia is not where he will finish his career, despite multiple comments that he was committed to the cause and wanted to see out his five-year contract.
So, from a purely Japanese point of view, is Jones’ return a good or bad thing for the Brave Blossoms and rugby in general in the Land of the Rising Sun?
First of all though, let me make it very, very clear – no one has come out of this looking good.
Why did the JRFU pay for a headhunter, once Joseph confirmed in July he was leaving after the World Cup, if, as has been reported here by Sponichi, a “private” deal was already in place between JRFU president Masato Tsuchida and Jones ensuring the latter would succeed the former All Black?
And don’t get me going on why it even needed expensive outside help to come up with the two names it did for the shortlist of candidates – Jones who led Japan to arguably their greatest win and Frans Ludeke who over the past eight years has taken Kubota Spears from easy beats to Japan Rugby League One champions.
Those in the anti-Jones camp will say his appointment stinks of nepotism. And they will quite rightly point out the constant denials from the coach and the silence from the JRFU.
They see it as Tsuchida (who was head coach of Suntory when Jones started out his coaching career) bringing back his long-time friend in a secret deal in the hope the JRFU can relive the glory days of 2015, when Japan famously beat the Springboks.
But to be fair though, there is a bit more to it than that.
During his first spell in Japan, Jones (unlike it has to be said Joseph) spent a great deal of time watching high school and university rugby and picking the likes of Takuya Yamasawa and Yusuke Kajimura to play and train with the full national squad while they were still in their teens.
Eddie Jones celebrates with Hiroshi Yamashita of Japan after the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool B match between Samoa and Japan. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Jones was very vocal that Japan needed to improve the way the game is run particularly with regards high performance, and it is surely no coincidence that Chris Webb recently arrived in Japan.
The former Wallabies manager, and long-time associate of Jones, was a key figure, alongside CEO Yuji Watase, in the emergence of the Sunwolves. And like Jones, the pair had constant run-ins with the JRFU over how best to prepare players for Test match rugby.
Tsuchida has made it clear he wants a change from the past, saying “I want the new head coach to oversee all levels, from high school, under 20s to the top level. I want the person to do it consistently, including university rugby.”
As such, Jones (and Webb if he signs on) would likely have free rein to make some significant changes to the way young Japanese players are currently “forced” to play the game. In particular, fast-tracking the top 18 to 22 year olds so they can play League One rugby rather than spending four years simply playing against fellow students.
It may also lead to the men’s sevens programme finally being taken seriously, in terms of player release and availability.
It is also clear that Jones knows about the culture here and how to get the best out of his players.
While there are stories that there was almost a player rebellion back in 2015 due to the harsh training regime, it is interesting to note that one of the players behind it responded immediately when asked who he thought would be the new coach when quizzed in October at this year’s World Cup in France.
“Eddie. He knows all there is to know about Japanese rugby,” said Fumiaki Tanaka.
And yet, just as with natto and Vegemite, there are those who think the man whose image adorned a billboard overlooking Ginza Crossing back in the winter of 2015-16, is anything but good.
“He belongs to a bygone era,” has been the message of many on Japanese social media, while others ask how he can bring success to Japan when he failed so badly this year with Australia.
Constant comparisons to 2015 will not help anyone going forward, questions have to be asked as to how much trust there is globally in the JRFU, while there will be lingering doubts as to whether Jones will see out his contract if the Brave Blossoms continue with the poor results that have hung over them since they hosted the World Cup in 2019.
Providing there are no last-minute glitches with Jones’ appointment, Ludeke must be thinking why he bothered going through with the whole application process, given everything that has occurred.
Uncle Fester
Roar Rookie
Especially given the enormous amount of conjecture in most comments.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Yeah he’s incredibly thin skinned. He’s just willing to put himself out there to be criticised again
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Absolutely. Because the most we have ever had is 5 local games in a single weekend at any point. With weekends with many less it’s not enough to generate significant media coverage and broadcast rights.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
That doesn’t change the point that the Blossums may not be on the up and that corporations may be less inclined to fund teams in the future. Nothing you said indicates an ability to sustainably support their club rugby.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
The guy flat out lied. Said there was no discussion at all. What you accept from our political leaders is entirely irrelevant.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Seriously? We have a recruitment process running for six months and an alleged conversation in August has some bearing on an outcome in December. This whole situation is childish. We live in a country where we accept that it is OK for our political leaders to deny that what we saw and heard them say last week ever happened, or at best, we misunderstood their categorical statements.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Yes, and they were right from their point of view. Sunwolves like Jaguares were just a Super Rugby cash grab with no concern over the effects on the domestic game there.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
I doubt the opportunity to be somewhat more professional in one team could make much difference to rugby in Argentina. Perhaps that's how SR tricked them. My understanding, which could be wrong, is that the domestic league in Argentina still isn't really professional, and for the same reason as before, that there is a big anti-professional holdout. If that is the case solving it would seem to be the priority and a Super rugby team would make things even worse, by devaluing the domestic league.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
What business man would though. JRU will definitely not who were the drivers the last time. When they can invite the SRP teams to come to Japan and play games against the J1 teams why would they. Some Oz teams were over pre-season and some NZ teams are coming pre-SR-season. SRP aren't going to try set up a SRP team in Japan (its a NZ/OZ team not a Japan dream) because the J1 clubs will stop these pre-season games the moment a SRP team is announced that they are going to do it. We saw how J! reacted when Sunwolves was created and SR people thought they would just be the best players from J1 but the owners refused and so they were never very good. If it was set up again it wouldn't even have the Japanese internationals. The two sesaon also clash so good luck finding local fans.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
But they already have it of sorts but Argentina does not have money and their Union income is not very high. Its hard to find figures but you are talking half of Italy and maybe twice teams like Canada or USA. They have a domestic league were the best players play in the SLAR team the Dogos or Pampas (replaced the Jag 15 in 2023). Their best players then get contracts all over the World in any league they can allowing the next players to come up. Jags back in SR will just allow the top players not in professional teams in the 5 big leagues plus Pro D2 to get contracts easier. Dura serves the same purpose and this off season they are losing 6 players to other clubs including to academy players with ones not good enough to be replaced by the next cab off the rank. The Whole point of SLAR was to allow the best players in South America a place to be fully professional (for the test squad) and show on the world stage their talent who can then get contracts. Its why Uruguay had more top level players at this WC.
Mario
Roar Rookie
Sound advice which I will follow without hesitation to ensure I'm more selective in what and who I read in future.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Oh the part where he denied reports he interviewed for the job he's now going to? Not sure that is character assassination either. Its neither unfair or dishonest to mention.
Muglair
Roar Rookie
Irrelevant to the issue of the alleged dishonesty and unethical behaviour of seeking the Japanese job. Although the performance issues would be a clear reason to be polite to anybody making enquiries about future availability.
LuckyPhil
Roar Rookie
Remind me when their last trophy was in a comp that included the kiwis and saffas.... Anyway, I go to the brumbies and support them, but they don't really have any IP worth protecting.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
This wouldn't be a very high level league, more like the Italian league before it joined the celtic nations. But for the sake of growing the game there it would be good. Certainly much better than the Jaguares. Reducing a whole country's domestic sport to one team does little for it.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Of course, there would be one expansion team in Adelaide like the A-League and Western Force and the rest would be NSW/QLD. Probably Newcastle, Gold Coast and some of Sydney 2, Sydney 3, Brisbane 2. And New Zealand would be Auckland 2, Auckland 3, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu/Taranaki (if more needed Northland, Hawkes Bay). 20 team NRL/AFL style competition with New Zealand style partial draft in Australia would solve everything.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
I get that put how many players would they have. They are already seeing players go to be professionals in the Top10 in Italy (below URC). More are in Spain in their league. You then have the MRL looking for players along with French D3 teams.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Realistically if you were adding 5 teams they would all be in a small area along the east cost states. France is smaller than NSW but most of the professional teams come from the three southern Provinces.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
You always have money for a professional league, it's just a question of how much money they're paid. I don't mean a high level league with serious pay like Europe/Super Rugby (and obviously the top players will be in Europe). Just something where they're technically professional, so that it can be marketed to a domestic audience and pull in young players as a career.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Rugby is very developed in Australia. But deciding to have 5 teams limits the exposure and scale of the game to 5 teams. England or France could equally have chosen to have 5 teams, and then everyone would have said it was impossible to have a 6th team, let alone 12-14. Look too at the A-League, and the profile of soccer in Australia. More teams would generate much more income, number of games on TV and therefore money. The standard would 'rise to fall', but with New Zealand partial draft distribution would be mitigated. In any case most fans come for tribal loyalty rather than particular players. 10 teams would vastly increase the strength and ability to grow of the game, covering whole cities left out and with more than a single team in the vast market in Sydney. No one has ever been interested in the concept of watching 5 teams: it just doesn't hook the audience. What does is a bigger, national level of competition.