Eddie Jones is no longer Australia’s coach. This is what the technician announced this Sunday morning in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. He resigns. “Sometimes you have to eat shit to allow others to eat caviar later…” A few days ago, however, he assured that he was thinking about the idea of continuing his mission until 2027, which he even wanted to, but he was waiting to see. Hamish McLennan, the boss of Australian rugby, continued to proclaim loudly and clearly that Eddie Jones was still the man for the job. But the latter wanted to obtain solid guarantees, in particular that of being able to regularly count on around forty players, in order to train them, to prepare them for the next world championship which will take place in four years, in Australia.
But like many national institutions, the Australian federation, which has not yet reacted to the announcement, is suffering financially and will not be able to offer Eddie Jones what he wanted. The latter therefore activated a clause in his contract, which allows him to terminate it unilaterally.
Eddie Jones was appointed last January to replace Dave Rennie. He had a mission, to restore color to a selection in distress, and try to make it shine during the World Cup which ended Saturday evening with the triumph of South Africa. He failed.
Two victories in nine matches…
In nine months and nine matches, his team has only won two matches, against Georgia and Portugal in the group stage of the World Cup. An insufficient record to hope to reach the quarter-finals. For the first time in the history of this competition, Australia was unable to overcome this first obstacle. A slap in the face for the country which pointed out the responsibility of Eddie Jones, also accused of having negotiated, before the start of the Tournament, with Japan, a selection that he knows well having managed it from 2012 to 2015 A selection, which, it should be noted, no longer has a coach since Jamie Joseph is leaving…
Eddie Jones has always denied having had these kinds of discussions with the leaders of the Japanese federation. He tried to justify himself to our Australian colleagues: “These stories are not credible, I have known the president of the Japanese Federation for a very long time, we are very close,” he clarified. Every time I go to Japan, I have coffee with him. We’re talking about rugby. So, have I met representatives of the Federation? Yes, but it’s been going on for 30 years. »
Japan, Fiji, Tonga and Georgia love his profile
Criticized for maintaining too close relations with other countries, Jones was also criticized for having left experienced players on the side of the road, deciding to take a very young and inexperienced squad to France. For example, he did not retain Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper. And to make matters worse, he quickly lost two major players in the competition, the powerful pillar Taniela Tupou and Will Skelton, the second row of La Rochelle, promoted to captain. There was also the Tate McDermott concussion.
In his interview, Eddie Jones says he is willing to take responsibility for the failure of the World Cup, but that he refuses to take responsibility for the decline of Australian rugby over the past 20 years. Aged 63, he has no plans to retire. He still wants to train and compete in another World Cup. As we have seen, Japan is looking for a coach. But it seems that the coach has other possibilities.
A few months ago, we had mentioned an interest from the Americans, disappointed to have missed the last step, and to be absent from the World Cup. Fiji is also looking for a coach since Simon Raiwalui has announced his departure… Two other nations, eliminated in the first of the tournament, would appreciate the experienced profile of Eddie Jones: Tonga and Georgia.
