It says plenty for the dire state of Australian rugby that Eddie Jones’s recommitment to the Wallabies cause for 2024-27 will be welcomed by the game’s administrators as good news. In the nine months since Jones has been national coach, he has won two of nine Tests, overseen the ignominy of a failure to reach the World Cup final-eight for the first time in 10 tournaments, and reduced a code already trailing NRL, AFL and football to a smoking ruin.
Yet he remains rugby’s most recognisable figure and best hope of reclaiming its glory days.
