Jones back in charge Veteran coach gets his Barbarians into shape
“LISTEN guys, I’m telling you, there is some dirty stuff to be done, there’s just no way around it.”
And with that, Alan Jones was a rugby coach again.
Three decades after he last pulled on a gold tracksuit with three green stripes down the sleeves, he returned to international rugby last night when he coached the Barbarians in a friendly in Lismore.
The match against the Classic Wallabies was a warm- up, of sorts, before Jones takes the famous BaaBaas – the UKbased invitational team – into battle against Michael Cheika’s Wallabies on Saturday afternoon at Allianz Stadium.
The ‘‘ warm- up’’ tag probably didn’t do it justice.
The sting had only just started to die out of a hot day on the NSW far north coast when Jones followed his players out on to the field before the game.
At 76, Jones has had more than his share of serious health issues this year, with repeated trips to hospital and breaks from his morning radio slot. But that didn’t stop him from getting heavily involved on the field in Lismore, as he was famous for doing as the 1984 Grand Slam and 1986 Bledisloe Cup- winning Wallabies coach.
The “dirty stuff” was code for hard work required by the forwards, which Jones wanted to allow the exciting BaaBaas backs to use the ball and search for “space, and width, and support”.
Rugby may have changed since but pre- game speeches may be pretty much on the same typewritten script.
“We have to charge at them,” Jones said. “I am not here to count mistakes.
‘‘ It’s not about the last minute, it’s about the next minute.
‘‘ We determine the result of this game, not them.”
With a team stocked full of professionals – although not containing A- team stars like Quade Cooper – the Baa- Baas’ fitness proved too much for the Classic Wallabies, a team of ex- Wallabies like Lote Tuqiri and Drew Mitchell, recently retired pros and some rising rookies.