At his best, Eddie Jones is a man in complete control. Of the narrative, of the direction of play on the field, of the hearts and minds of those who support him. But at Friday’s press conference for Sunday’s game against Wales, a game his Wallabies side now have to win after their shock loss against Fiji last weekend, Jones had the composure of a teenager on the verge of a meltdown.
“As I said, I think I am 100% doing the right thing for Australian rugby and I apologise for the results,” Jones said. “I can get down on my knees and do the Japanese thing if you want me to. I can’t apologise any more guys, I am really sorry we haven’t had better results. But what I know is what we are doing is right for Australian rugby.”
What he’s done in his short second tenure has clearly not worked. That Fiji defeat was his sixth in seven matches. After the match he said it was all his fault. He reiterated that sentiment here: “I’ve let Australian rugby down. I haven’t done the job I was brought in to do. I was brought to turn it around. So I feel that responsibility.”
And, of course, it is his fault. It is his responsibility. It was his decision to place all his faith in an inexperienced fly-half – only to throw him under the bus this week – and leave Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley at home. It was his decision to treat Michael Hooper like yesterday’s lunch. It was his decision to select a young side at the expense of proven veterans with more than a sideways eye on the next World Cup on home soil in 2027. That’s all on Jones and it’s difficult not to see this tournament’s imminent implosion as anything other than chickens coming home to roost.
“Those guys have been around, results over the last period of time haven’t been at the level we need to be,” Jones said of his controversial call to leave certain players at home and put his faith in youth. “Our results are even worse but sometimes you’ve got to do that to go forward. We need to create a new group of players that have high standards of training, high standards of behaviours, high standards of expectation. And that’s what we are trying to do.”
The Australian rugby-loving public aren’t buying it. This week, the former wing with 71 Test caps, Drew Mitchell, spouted an expletive-ridden tirade on The Roar podcast demanding Jones explain some of his more baffling decisions. The 1991 World Cup winner David Campese said that it was “unacceptable” for an Australian side not to reach the knockouts and has called for an inquiry should the Wallabies prematurely exit the competition. True to character, Jones brushed aside the negativity.
“Well, I don’t listen to any of that noise. I don’t even know what Drew Mitchell said. I’ve got no idea what he said. I’ve got no idea what David Campese said. So, if you want to explain it to me, I’m happy to listen to it.”
This siege mentality only works when you’re winning. Or at least showing signs of improvement. Australia coughed up 16 penalties against Fiji. Ill discipline and inaccuracy have been a perennial problem for the side. No other Rugby Championship or Six Nations team over the past two years conceded more penalties per game than Australia’s 13.6. If Jones hasn’t fixed this glaring issue, why was he brought in?
He stressed that he is the right man for the job. Perhaps he believes he is the only man for the job. He quipped that he could be living a more stress-free life as a teacher, putting on a tie, receiving a packed lunch from his wife and coming home to “wash the dog, clean the car, watch the Channel 7 news or ABC news and then get the packed lunch ready for the next day”.
If he loses to Wales and becomes the first Wallabies coach to exit the World Cup in the first round, he might be living that life sooner than he imagined. As Jones acknowledged on Friday: “At the end of the World Cup, there’ll be a review, and … maybe Australian Rugby doesn’t want to keep me. That’s the reality of the job I live in.” But, as he pointed out, they’re still alive in the competition.
“We were always going to get this game at some stage,” he added. “It’s come a little bit earlier than we thought it would, so we’ve got an opportunity to show on Sunday whether we can fight and get the result we need to get. I’m confident we can.”
