Opinion
Eddie Jones wants to smooth out the rough edges of his Wallabies story. But some spiky parts won’t budge
Iain Payten
Senior Sports ReporterEddie Jones is fond of drawing from left-field sources, so he’d probably already know the quote of Indian author Shiv Khera: “Ninety per cent of selling is conviction and 10 per cent is persuasion.”
He may have his own percentage split, but conviction and persuasion are the stock-in-trade of Jones the rugby coach.
You’ll remember Jones the salesman. For the first half of 2023, Jones had Australian rugby officials, players and fans buying what he was selling about the “smash and grab” job they were about to pull off at the Rugby World Cup. In the end, the Wallabies were smashed and the only grabbing was done by Jones – on to the lifeline dangled by a Japanese Rugby Union rescue chopper.
The chaos of 2023 has been followed by half of a year of peace and quiet, but Jones the salesman has now returned. And a new pitch is in full swing.
Now the head coach of Japan, Jones is back in the news via a round of interviews ahead of his first Test match, against England in Tokyo on Saturday. After the media cyclone that surrounded the end of his Wallabies tenure, Jones is back in his element. In control, engaging and selling his narrative with conviction and persuasion.
But not necessarily with accuracy and honesty – at least when it comes to the 2024 version of his exit from Australian rugby.
Eddie Jones ended a turbulent year as new coach of Japan.Credit: Viola Kam
Jones explains away his resignation, 11 months into a five-year contract, as the consequence of Rugby Australia failing to meet contractual conditions about funding and his plans for a new high-performance system. If not done by a certain date, Jones claimed, his contract was “null and void”.
“I had to feel as though my level of commitment was going to be matched by the people running the game,” Jones told RugbyPass’ Jim Hamilton on a gentle stroll through Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. “And I didn’t feel that was the case, so we called all bets off.”
Set aside that these were the same people who blew up a settled coach in Dave Rennie to hire Jones on a five-year deal. And unquestioningly kept tapping the credit card as his Wallabies program ran several million dollars over budget.
And set aside the fact that people with knowledge of Jones’ contract, who can’t comment due to confidentiality reasons, say there were no conditions around performance systems and that the only get-out available for both parties was February 1, 2024.
Eddie Jones at the Cooge Oval press conference.Credit: Steven Siewart
It was Jones pointing to his “level of commitment” that had many in Australian rugby rolling their eyes like a feature on Queen of the Nile at Coogee RSL.
You may recall Jones elected to do an interview with the JRFU, for the vacant Japan coaching job, in the weeks before the Rugby World Cup. Colleague Tom Decent broke the story, and despite multiple denials from Jones, the Sydney Morning Herald stands by it.
Jones’ version, as rolled out after he got the job and again in interviews this week, is that he simply spoke to “a recruitment company” who were asking for advice on what Japan needed for a head coach.
No matter how much Jones tries to smooth down the rough edges of this story, however, the spiky bits won’t go away.
If he was just giving advice to a recruitment company, why did Jones deny even having any contact with Japan? The original, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, mate” would have been, “Yes, I did jump on a Zoom, but here’s the thing ...”
If he was just giving advice to a recruitment company, why were multiple JRFU directors – including chairman Kensuke Iwabuchi – on the Zoom? Why did the Zoom invitation say “JRFU – First round interview, Eddie Jones”?
Screenshots show the JRFU’s Zoom meeting room titled ‘First round interview, Eddie Jones’, and the personal email address from which Jones accepted the invitation.Credit: Illustration: Aresna Villanueva
Why was recruitment advice being sought on August 25 when applications for the Japan head coach job closed a week earlier, on August 18?
If he was giving advice to a recruitment firm, why did Jones deny speaking to any recruitment firms about the Japan job at the Coogee Oval press conference?
Question: Have you spoken to any third parties about the Japan job … like recruitment agencies or executive search organisations?
Answer: “Not that I’m aware of”.
The smooth-edged version is it was just amazingly good fortune the Japan job was available a week after Jones quit the Wallabies.
Deidre Chambers, what a coincidence.
In truth, Japan recruiting Jones – while poor form – solved a problem for Rugby Australia, who were keen for a quickie divorce after the World Cup, too. Some suggest no-one at RA rang the JRFU demanding answers because they didn’t want Jones’ deal to fall over.
In this week’s interviews, mostly on his favoured medium of long podcast (where journalists don’t awkwardly probe about facts and logic), Jones says he has regrets about a combative relationship he created with Australian media, who tended to awkwardly probe about facts and logic.
New Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt, whose idea of a sales pitch is putting a team list out on Thursday, has bypassed questions on his predecessor since taking on the job. But he’ll give a verdict on Jones, of sorts, when he names his first Test squad for July matches against Wales and Georgia.
Roughly half of the 2023 Rugby World Cup squad won’t be in it, for various reasons.
Two disgruntled young stars, Carter Gordon and Mark Nawaqanitawase, decided to switch to rugby league, another three have left to play overseas, and three didn’t even make Schmidt’s train-on squad. Four are overseas-based and five have long-term injuries.
Joe Schmidt will name his first Wallabies squad on Friday.Credit: Getty
Several form players of the Rennie era, who were brushed by Jones, will return; names like Tom Wright, Len Ikitau, Noah Lolesio and Jake Gordon.
At one point in his RugbyPass interview, Jones seems to go close to a mea culpa, with a concise summary of why everything went so horrifically wrong.
“It was just too unstable, mate. We had changing personnel, change in leadership. We tried to change the way we played. Short run-up,” Jones said.
It edged towards an admission it may have been better if he’d had a year off instead. But then … the conviction returned.
“If I had my time again, I would still probably do it the same.”
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