{"id":293350,"date":"2023-10-05T22:25:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=293350"},"modified":"2023-10-05T22:25:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:25:32","slug":"exclusive-eddie-jones-insists-no-ones-jeering-me-in-the-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/rugby-union\/exclusive-eddie-jones-insists-no-ones-jeering-me-in-the-street\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Eddie Jones insists 'no one's jeering me in the street'"},"content":{"rendered":"
Everyone with an interest in Australian rugby and countless others within the sport at large want to know, definitively, what Eddie Jones\u2019s plans are \u2013 and he is adamant that he is not moving on.<\/p>\n
Whether he is moved on is another matter, although his bosses have expressed their backing for now. But as the Wallabies tick along at their secluded base camp, doing weights in a marquee next to the hotel and waiting for Fiji to extinguish their faint hope of World Cup salvation, there was no escaping the elephant in the room \u2013 or, more accurately, on the brasserie terrace.<\/p>\n
Jones broke off from a series of meetings with players and staff there to speak to Mail Sport and the thorny issue of what comes next for him after this tournament was unavoidably high on the agenda. The Rugby Australia hierarchy; chairman Hamish McLennan and chief executive Phil Waugh, have offered public support for their embattled head coach, after defeat to Fiji and a 40-6 capitulation at the hands of Wales left the green-and-gold campaign here in disarray.<\/p>\n
Now, amid a fierce backlash and renewed doubt Down Under about what lies ahead for the national team and the man who returned for a second stint in charge at the start of the year, after his sacking by England last December, the ball appears to be in Jones\u2019s court. So what is his outlook?<\/p>\n
\u2018I have signed a five-year contract,\u2019 said the 63-year-old. \u2018Like any job, coaches are in an employer-employee relationship, and we are in a game of winning. Whenever you\u2019re not winning, the coach is vulnerable, so I am vulnerable. Does that cause extra noise? It probably does. There\u2019s been this noise about Japan, but nothing has happened. So that\u2019s just added a bit more noise to it.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Eddie Jones revealed exclusively to Mail Sport that he has no intentions of stepping down from his role as the manager of the Australian rugby team\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Wallabies have suffered a disappointing campaign after defeats to Fiji and Wales<\/p>\n
Jones was referring to a report by a leading, respected Australian newspaper which firmly stated that he had held talks with Japan, about going back there as head coach of the Brave Blossoms. He sought to dismiss it after the Welsh ordeal and when asked again whether he had spoken to either the Japanese union, or any organisation or individuals acting on their behalf, he said: \u2018No,\u2019 before adding: \u2018Whenever there is any noise; that creates uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u2018I came into this job with the approach that it was going to be a long-term job, but Rugby Australia could change. If there\u2019s a change in the wind then things can happen, but my commitment was always long-term and there\u2019s no reason why that won\u2019t happen.\u2019<\/p>\n
Australia great Tim Horan joined the fanfare of speculation about Jones\u2019s intentions when he asked earlier this week: \u2018Does Eddie Jones actually want to coach the Wallabies?\u2019 The response yesterday was: \u2018If the judgement was on commitment, he wouldn\u2019t be saying that. There\u2019s no commitment issue.\u2019<\/p>\n
Events in France have left Jones in a tight corner and struggling for answers at times. But what they haven\u2019t done is left him with diminished self-belief. \u2018I haven\u2019t got any doubt about myself,\u2019 he said. \u2018I\u2019m not trying to make myself out as a martyr, but I went back to Australia to try to help them and I still think what I\u2019ve done \u2013 despite the results so far \u2013 is going to help Australian rugby in the future.\u2019<\/p>\n
At this World Cup, Jones appears to have become a pantomime villain for fans of all nationalities. He has been booed mercilessly, every time he has appeared on the big screens during matches. The ferocity of the noise aimed at him was so extreme in the fixture against Wales in Lyon that it drew strong condemnation from Dan Biggar in these pages.<\/p>\n
Asked if it has been hard to take, Jones said: \u2018I don\u2019t really worry about it mate.\u2019 Really? \u2018I genuinely don\u2019t worry about it. If that\u2019s the way they want to carry on, then that\u2019s fair enough.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s not how I\u2019m treated in the street. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve had one person come up and jeer me in the street. Whatever people do at the ground\u2026 it\u2019s a bit like social media isn\u2019t it? Everyone is brave when they don\u2019t have to show their face.<\/p>\n
\u2018Here, the crowds have definitely been different \u2013 they\u2019ve had more of a football way about them. But it\u2019s not to the extent that we\u2019re having fights. If it reached the point that fans were fighting then that would be a sign that it\u2019s going too far.\u2019<\/p>\n
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At this World Cup, Jones appears to have become a pantomime villain for fans of all nationalities and has been jeered mercilessly by supporters in stadiums<\/p>\n
It is not just spectators who have turned their wrath on Jones. Countless former players have taken shots at him too. Many were incensed by the sudden ejection of veterans Michael Hooper \u2013 the long-standing captain \u2013 and Quade Cooper from the Wallabies squad in the summer. Jones has no regrets about his ruthless decision, despite admitting that he has questioned it at times.<\/p>\n
\u2018I decided that we needed to make an abrupt change, because the status quo wasn\u2019t going to be good enough,\u2019 he said. \u2018I decided to look at the next generation coming through. Sometimes, I look back and you do think whether that was the right thing to do or not. But in the end, I do think it was the right thing to do. The advantage with this squad is that it still has five or six years of growth in it. That will set Australia up well for the Lions series in 2025 and for the 2027 World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u2018Players take it in different ways. That\u2019s always a World Cup issue; when you leave out established players. Some of those players will carry a grudge until the day they die and other players will let it go. It\u2019s not something I can control. It doesn\u2019t bother me.\u2019<\/p>\n
What the game Down Under needs is an outbreak of unity and overdue reform. Jones recognises that age-old divisions and structures cannot continue. \u2018Australia\u2019s never had that,\u2019 he said, when asked about unity. \u2018There\u2019s always been a lot of in-fighting. It was always New South Wales against Queensland, then the Brumbies come in and everybody hates the Brumbies.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s always been like that. It\u2019s a small rugby country that\u2019s had a lot of in-fighting and at some stage we need to be more collaborative in our approach. You just have to look at smaller rugby countries like Ireland. When you get that cohesive approach, you can have that success.<\/p>\n
\u2018Australia now, in terms of rugby population and rugby significance, is a small country in the world. In the amateur and early professional era, we were a country well ahead of its spot, because we had professionalism in the game, because of close ties with rugby league and Aussie Rules. Now, we don\u2019t have that advantage, so Australian rugby needs a reset. We are still running off an antiquated system, which was pre-professional. We need to change with the times.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Jones enjoyed a seven-year stint as the England boss before his departure in December 2022<\/p>\n
His comments served as an echo across the world, between his home country and the one he left behind when the RFU halted his seven-year tenure as England head coach. \u2018English rugby is a bit the same way,\u2019 he added. \u2018At some stage, they\u2019re going to have to change the model there. What that is, I\u2019m not sure. But to compete against more cohesive countries, they have to change.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, he has been impressed by the work of his Red Rose successor, Steve Borthwick. England have won their first three matches at this tournament to guaranteed qualification for the knock-out stages as Pool D winners and Jones saluted their efforts.<\/p>\n
\u2018England have been playing really good World Cup rugby,\u2019 he said. \u2018I always thought they would. They\u2019ve gone back to an older team and they are tactical balanced, with a strong kicking game. Their set piece has been good enough, defensively they\u2019ve been good enough and they\u2019ve been able to score enough points either through the boot of George Ford or some good attack close to the line. I\u2019m really pleased for Steve.\u2019<\/p>\n
Yet, when pressed on whether there is any prospect of an English triumph in the weeks ahead, Jones gave his take on the title contenders, adding: \u2018Rugby is such a power game and the most powerful teams are South Africa, France and Ireland \u2013 but with Ireland it is more a collective power. Then you\u2019ve got New Zealand, who rely on the speed of the ball. If New Zealand get a referee like Wayne Barnes, then they\u2019ve got a great chance, but those four teams are a little bit above everyone else.\u2019<\/p>\n