The Japanese believe in onryō – malicious spirits who perished full of anger and then return to scare the living to death and steal their souls. The Wallabies face an onryō of sorts this weekend – their former coach Eddie Jones, who led them off a cliff at the 2023 World Cup and then abandoned them to coach Japan.
This will be the first time the Wallabies have faced off against their old mentor since he fled a five-year $5m contract just nine months into a quest to rebuild Australian rugby for home men’s and women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2029. Instead, Jones scarcely checked in on the Wallaroos and won two of his nine Tests as the Wallabies were eliminated in RWC pool stages for the first time.
