Ahead of September’s World Cup in France, Rugby Australia has brought back the famously abrasive coach to work a miracle.
Eddie Jones has made a successful career out of unsettling people. Relentless, intense and at times brutal; his tirades are so cutting, those on the receiving end have said it is almost as if they are scripted and rehearsed.
With all this in mind, I arrive at Rugby Australia headquarters with a degree of trepidation. Dressed in a crisp white shirt and suit trousers and slight in stature, he greets me with a firm handshake. As I follow him out the door to the cafe on Sydney’s Moore Park road, the receptionist wishes me good luck.
“I’ve never talked directly with Eddie about it but his upbringing, I suspect it was tougher than most. So I admire and love his history and what he’s achieved. I want people at every level [to know] I don’t care where you come from or what you stand for ... but you have to be tough and have a winning attitude.”
To pay the bills, as rugby was still an amateur sport, Jones pursued a teaching career while he was leading Randwick’s front row. His first gig was at the International Grammar School in Surry Hills in 1984 where he met his wife, Hiroko. But his playing career suffered a blow when he was overlooked for national selection in the lead-up to the 1991 World Cup. Legendary Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer selected Jones’ then-understudy Phil Kearns to wear the No. 2 jersey.
Asked whether he works his players too hard, Jones makes no apologies and says he has no regrets for those run over or left behind in his pursuits of victory. His steely gaze and his immediate shrug imply that any player or assistant at the receiving end of one of his takedowns deserved it.?” he asks me. “International sport is demanding. It’s the best against the best. You don’t want to work hard, that’s all right. Go and play for whoever you want to play for.
While Jones jokes that the Australian team will need divine intervention, the bookies agree. Australia and England are fifth and sixth favourites at close to $10. These odds weren’t helped by the Wallabies first game with Jones back in charge in early July. The team was pummelled 43-12 in Pretoria by a South African team that was without its best players. It was followed by a trademark fiery press conference performance as Jones scolded a South African reporter for being a “smartarse”.
“Anything can go wrong, mate. You can plan a war for 50 years and it can go wrong. So it’s about how well you plan, how adaptable you are and the quality of people in your team.”There is a lot to play for. It’s the world’s third-biggest sporting event, according to organisers who base the claim on the number of nations taking part, the television audiences and the tickets sold. The 1995 World Cup won by a Nelson Mandela-inspired South Africa was the subject of a Hollywood blockbuster.
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