MANIAC OR MAGICIAN

Blizzard of emails, even from his hospital bed. Bullying that made grown men cry. Whacky ideas, but also huge success. So who is the real Eddie Jones?

SOME describe him as a magician, others a maniac. Some remember his h u m o u r, others the humiliation. One thing they all agree on i s that he delivers results.

Eddie Jones has split opinion throughout his career but his World Cup record is second to none. Played 18, won 16, lost 2.

His Australia side were defeated by England in the 2003 final. In 2007 he got his hands on the Webb Ellis Trophy as assistant with South Africa. Most recently, in 2015, he masterminded the biggest shock of all time when Japan beat the Springboks.

The key to his success is tactical genius and a relentless, obsessive appetite for work. Sometimes that has been at the expense of his own health; suffering a stroke in 2013. On other occasions he has pushed his players to breaking point.

The Mail on Sunday tracked down some of his closest colleagues to find out what — if anyone really knows — goes on in Jones’ head…

EWEN McKENZIE AUSTRALIA COACHING COORDINATOR, 2003

I HAVE known Eddie since we were team- mates at Randwick, where he played hooker, and he’s always been unique. With Eddie, not hi ng get s left t o c hance. Attention to detail was a premium and he’d never forget anything, because he was an absolutely voracious notetaker.

Coaching, travel, timing... everything was drafted out. We were all microphoned up at training which, in 2003, was relatively new. Our sessions were down to the precise minute and second — and the times would be called out over the radio.

Statistical packages were only just emerging in 2003 but we were ahead of the curve. Eddie would look far and wide for ideas. At one stage we trialled some software being used in supermarkets to arrange items in the shopping aisles. We put on these glasses with mirrors in them to track your eyeballs. You’d walk down the aisle of a supermarket wearing them to see what attracts your attention.

It was cumbersome but we used the technology for our hookers and the lineout. We wanted to see where they were looking when they threw the ball.

He used to work as a teacher and had a school principal approach. There was always someone in the room who’d be the butt of the joke or the eye of the anger. S o met i mes h e maybe went a bit too far but, in sport, it’s easy to be liked and hard to be respected. Being liked is not the domain of a head coach. Like a politician, you’re happy to get 51 per cent.

BEN DARWIN AUSTRALIA PROP, 2003

I HAD a difficult relationship with Eddie as an authority figure but, equally, I don’t think I would have played for Australia if it wasn’t for him. Did I always enjoy it? Hell no. There were times when I wanted to quit. He’s a very strong-willed guy who pushes people to the limit.

He was aways pushing the line between bullying, intimidation, coaching and provocation. He was on that edge all the time but it’s had great results. He could pump up your tyres but equally if he thought you had a weakness then he would target it. He would tear strips out of guys in front of the team and hope you’d respond. You’d either say ‘ I want out’ or you’d be so embarrassed that you were intent on proving him wrong. It was a way of weeding out the weak. Eddie didn’t take days off. He would go and watch the fitness sessions of the reserve players and bark at them. One of the hardest sessions I ever had was on the Sunday morning after a Test. It was a four-person training session for the four guys who hadn’t played more than 20 minutes. He flogged us. His relationship with senior players was very different; not so adversarial. There would have been times where he blew up George Gregan but that would have been rare. He t ore i nto t he j unior players more. At one point I said ‘Mate, I’m not enjoying this any more’ and that set us on a different path. If you could get through the first four or five years then you were over the worst of it. There’s a thing with Eddie where he appears to be bigger than he actually is. He grows in size and suddenly you don’t notice the fact that he’s a little guy. I’ve seen guys, 6ft 8in, in tears in front of him. He would raise his voice a nd t he e yebrow c o me s up. Generally, you have confidence that what he says is right because you know that he’s done t he work. I heard a speech from Eddie post2003 that he actually pulls back a bit at big tournaments. That’s when he’s at his least disruptive. At World Cups you live in fear of the blow-up that never comes. If you look at his record, he gets the best out of guys at the World Cup. When I’ve seen him at his angriest is when the Wallabies were almost losing to Oxford University at half-time in a game that doesn’t really matter.

He can pick apart t e a ms extremely well and hit them in the spots that will cause a huge amount of pain. In 2003 we knew that New Zealand would only send a 10-man kick chase line. Their back three and locks would stay on kick-off. They would expect you to kick back to them and counter off that. Our plan was ‘If they kick to us, we run it back. If we have to go through 10 phases, we go through 10 phases’.

Everyone knew where to go and what to do and what their roles would be. The level of detail was unbelievable.

SCHALK BURGER SOUTH AFRICA FLANKER, 2007

AT the end of every day Eddie would always be around for a glass of wine or a beer. Being t he assistant coach probably freed him up a little bit so we would talk about rugby, cricket and t he South African psyche. He was a very funny, witty guy. Before Eddie came in we were typical South African — big and brash — and he put in some structures that really complemented our players.

Our coach, Jake White, was taking a lot of heat at the time. The experience of Eddie provided a really good sounding board in the high-pressure situations because he’d been there and done it. He goes through hours of stats and data but he can deliver a simple message at the end of it all. After the final, one of the players gave him their Springbok blazer and that shows how popular he was.

BRYAN HABANA SOUTH AFRICA WINGER, 2007

AS assistant coach we got the fun-loving Eddie who could purely concentrate on rugby. He didn’t have to deal with media and he was there for a very short, impactful time. He has one of the best rugby brains in the world. He changed our way of thinking, our way of seeing the game and one or two structural things. There was always a smile on his face and he could read opposition attacks or defences and tell us how they looked at us.

MARC DAL MASO JAPAN ASSISTANT COACH, 2015

EDDIE works like a bull — he is f***ing nuts for rugby. He’s got lots of friends but, when you work with him, you’re no longer friends.

With Japan he would p*** people off and create a bit of disorder to keep people on their toes. Even if you’ve done really well in the scrums, he’ll come back and say it was s***. You would get emails at 5am. If you’ve won, you wake up with a good feeling, but Eddie’s not happy because he wants to keep everyone on edge. It was smart and it worked.

Once I went two minutes over with my scrummaging session and Eddie cancelled the rest of the day. The next day he put this huge clock on the side of the pitch to remind me when I should finish. He wasn’t happy… but he is never happy!

We would always look for ways to innovate. We tried scrummaging on the beach, mauling in the ocean — players up to their waist in water — to teach the players to adapt. I’ve got a lot of time for him as a coach. He is the best in the world.

JUSTIN IVES JAPAN FLANKER, 2015

IN the lead-up to that World Cup, Eddie stood up in front of us and said: ‘ We’re going to win that Springboks game.’ You like to believe it but there were a few looks around the room. But you had to be 100 per cent committed or you were out. Eddie was ruthless.

A specific part of our training was just called ‘Beat the Boks’. It was hectic. He’d stand there with a ball, we’d be playing phases and he’d kick it 50 metres down field and you had to rush back and go all over again. It was chaos rugby and a few guys were sick on the sidelines. We’d be up at 4.45am and sometimes finish at 11pm. I remember getting up in the 5.30am session and not being able to reach down to put my socks on.

When Eddie had his stroke, he was still watching rugby in his hospital bed and some of the guys would be getting 20 messages a d a y. He u s e d p r e t t y strong language. We were training at a university grounds once. We’d driven 45 minutes to get there and there were three dropped balls in the first two minutes. Eddie sent us back on the bus.

Everyone was thinking ‘Is this serious?’ and we just drove straight back to the hotel. He had the eyebrow up. When he’s walking around with the old left eyebrow up you don’t go near him.

‘EDDIE CAN PUMP UP YOUR TYRES. BUT IF HE SEES A WEAKNESS HE WILL TARGET IT’