‘I won’t play mind games with Eddie – I’d only lose’
Hscott Wisemantel spent two years honing England’s attack but is now trying to help his native Australia to beat them
Having worked alongside Eddie Jones for the best part of two years, Australia attack coach Scott Wisemantel has no desire to take any psychological pop shots at his former boss before Saturday’s match at Twickenham. “If I start to play mind games, I will come out second best,” Wisemantel says. “I’m not going to try. I’ll have a meltdown.”
Wisemantel is among a select band of coaches who did not just survive working under Jones but thrived. England’s best attacking rugby was played when Wisemantel joined Jones’s coaching ticket in 2018 through to the 2019 World Cup and a significant drop-off followed his departure. He has subsequently joined his native Wallabies.
Yet there is no evidence that Wisemantel suffered any lasting scars from working with Jones. In fact, his rolling contract meant he could have left at any point, but chose to return to Australia after nearly 10 years away. “I love that team and I love Eddie Jones but my contract was tournament to tournament,” he says. “That was a deal between Eddie and I. He would say, ‘Look mate, we had a bit of fun on this tour, do you want to go around again?’ That’s how we operated. I loved working for him.
“Post the World Cup, it was hard. Do you go back and do what you have already done or do you take a break? Did I have prior knowledge that this [Australia] job was coming up? No. My family did not travel to the UK and for that 10-year period when I was working abroad we had three years together. I was a journeyman. I had enough of it.”
A surf-loving free spirit, Wisemantel was enormously popular with England players, especially the backs.
“The amount of tries the back three have scored, whether that is through passing or kicking, speaks for itself,” George Ford said during the 2019 World Cup. “We massively enjoy working with Wisey.”
It was no surprise that the Wallabies snapped him up straight away under Dave Rennie’s rebuild. According to Wisemantel, the former Glasgow and Waikato Chiefs head coach, who also possesses a firecracker temperament, has much in common with Jones.
“They go about it in different ways, but every day is a challenge,” Wisemantel says. “Every day you get challenged and you learn. I think, philosophically, they are very similar and the outcomes are similar but the processes are very different.
“Dave’s a bit gentler around how things are done, but he is very stern and knows what he wants. It is the same with Eddie. The principles are the same. It is just the way they do it is different. You can see with the outcomes, they are both very successful and there’s a reason for that.”
In between campaigns as England attack coach, Wisemantel took jobs back in Australia as a bricklayer and supply teacher. Yet he never stopped thinking about the game and is constantly looking for inspiration. “I prepare like we have lost every time. That’s the starting point. Second thing, watching lots and lots
‘Jones and Dave Rennie are very similar but the processes are different. Dave is a bit gentler’
of footage. Thirdly, I seek out who has got an edge, whether it is in rugby union or any other sport. Find out who has got an edge and why and then you pick their brains.”
His most recent conversations have been with Steve Borthwick, the Leicester Tigers head coach, and Craig Fitzgibbon, the new head coach of Australian rugby league side Cronulla Sharks.
Until Sunday’s defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield, the Wallabies had been motoring along fairly well, with five successive victories. If Rennie is hoping to tap into any residual inside knowledge about Jones’s workings then Wisemantel says he will be disappointed.
“Eddie changes all the time,” Wisemantel says. “He is always evolving. He’s cagey. I can see how they are heading in the right direction. It will be a really good challenge for us.”
The last time Australia faced England was in the 2019 World Cup quarterfinal. Wisemantel had no qualms about drawing up the attacking blueprint that shredded the Wallabies 40-16 and spelt the end of Michael Cheika’s reign. Similarly, there will be no mixed emotions on Saturday.
“I was fully immersed in that [England] team and we were hellbent on winning. I had some mates in the staff and I felt for them afterwards. The alternative was that it was me with my tail between my legs. It is kill or be killed. From a philosophical point of view, there was no remorse. I can’t remember who wrote the song [Stephen Stills] but love the one you’re with.”