EDDIE JONES IS SHAPING UP FOR AN EPIC BATTLE IN DUBLIN
Jones has spent his career getting under opponents’ skin in order to get results
LONG before that ‘scummy Irish’ clip went viral on YouTube, there was another infamous (and far more telling) video of Eddie Jones doing the rounds. It’s well worth a watch. It was June of 2012 and Japan had just copped a 41-20 beating at the hands of the French Barbarians in Tokyo. Jones, in his first year as head coach of the Brave Blossoms, was fit to be tied in the post-match press conference. When his skipper Toshiaki Hirose had tried to break the tension with a nervous laugh, he got the hairdryer treatment from the gaffer in front of the assembled media.
‘It’s not funny…. it’s not funny,’ Jones fumed.
‘That’s the problem with Japanese rugby. Seriously. We’re not serious about winning. If we want to win we need to physically smash peoto ple and we didn’t do it. We knew how the French Barbarians were going to play… I think I should probably leave.’
Three years later, Japan would defeat the Springboks in an unforgettable World Cup pool encounter in Brighton. Jones has always demanded high standards and, more often not, his methods pay off.
The Australian is heading into his 24th year as a professional coach and the 58-year-old has lost none of his drive.
‘Let’s get ready for a few grenades,’ he quipped to Joe Schmidt prior to the Six Nations launch in London a few days ago. He’s been throwing grenades ever since his days as a batsman at Matraville High School. Sledging is par for the course in Australian cricket and Jones was always a master at being able get under the opposition’s skin.
During his days as a tigerish hooker for the renowned Randwick club in Sydney, Jones was the king of the one-liner. No one was immune to criticism, even his own teammates. Simon Poidevin was a Randwock legend and won 59 caps for the Wallabies. A teak-tough blindside flanker, Poidevin was a serious customer but was prone to the occasional spillage in contact. He was soon christened ‘Venus’ by Jones, in reference to the Venus de Milo sculpture: great body, no hands.
Players, pundits and coaches have all felt the wrath of his acid tongue at some stage. ‘That’s a really stupid question,’ he once shouted at a reporter during a press conference at Pennyhill Park – England’s plush training base in Surrey. In one of his first meetings as England boss, Jones threw a bag of sweets at Ben Youngs. He felt the England scrumhalf was carrying a bit of extra weight. Message received. Marland Yarde was once subjected to a very public dressing down on the training pitch during England’s summer tour of Argentina. Assistant coaches would get emails at 5am, with a furious follow-up at 7am if they hadn’t replied. ‘You need to work harder,’ was a regular demand on coaches and staff.
That bullish attitude and a relentless work ethic can be traced back to a tough childhood growing up in Little Bay, a working class suburb in south-west Sydney. A promising playing career with Randwick – where he counted Michael Cheika and the Ella brothers as teammates – was the perfect preparation for a long career in coaching spanning the ACT Brumbies, Australia, Japan, Saracens, South Africa and Queensland before he returned to the Far East to revive the fortunes of the national side.
Everything changed after that triumph over the Boks at Amex Stadium.
Cheika’s Wallabies had driven the final nail into the coffin of the Stuart Lancaster coaching ticket with a win at Twickenham. England were out of the World Cup and Lancaster and Andy Farrell would soon be out of a job as well. The RFU came calling for Jones. He didn’t put a foot wrong during his first 24 months in the top job.
One of his first orders of business was bringing the English press out for drinks. It was a relaxed affair. Jones
had a few beers and there was a sense that everything said that evening would be off the record. England’s new supremo then made the startling claim that he would be making Dylan Hartley his new captain ahead of Chris Robshaw. There was widespread shock in the room. Hartley, the combustible hooker with a dreadful disciplinary record, as England captain? That revelation soon appeared across the sports pages in the coming days. It was a masterstroke by Jones. The message was out there for weeks before Hartley’s appointment was officially confirmed.
Following that World Cup debacle, Jones would steer England to 23 wins in 24 Tests including backto-back Six Nations titles (including a Grand Slam) and a 3-0 series win over his old mate Cheika in Australia.
Off the field, he was proving a huge success as well. King of the soundbite, Jones would fire out an endless amount of memorable lines to the insatiable English press. As one reporter once observed: ‘Say what you like about Eddie, he has put rugby on the back page more times than any other coach.’ Whether he was comparing Maro Itoje to a Vauxhall Viva, calling Hartley a ‘butcher’, or extolling the virtues of ‘Bodyline rugby’, Jones has always been box office. The week ahead should be no different. Johnny Sexton has already been in his sights.
There were signs last season that the Jones regime may have started to wear a little thin, however. Amid rumours of player unrest about the brutal nature of training sessions, there was a mass exodus of backroom staff including defence coach Paul Gustard, who left for Harlequins. Results were suffering too. A poor Six Nations culminated in a 24-15 defeat at the hands of Ireland at Twickenham. The sight of Schmidt’s men parading the title around Twickenham should have provided England with all the motivation they need this week.
There were promising signs of an English revival in the autumn, and, crucially, Jones can call upon the services of the Vunipola brothers and Manu Tuilagi as well.
He was warned Ireland to expect brutality in Dublin. There will be grenades aplenty off the field as well. Let the sledging begin.