Eddie Jones quits: Former Wallabies coach points finger at Rugby Australia

Eddie Jones has quit as Wallabies coach just weeks — and he’s delivered a sobering message for the future of rugby in Australia.

Eddie Jones reveals why he walked away from the Wallabies. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Eddie Jones has dropped a bombshell on Australian rugby, announcing his resignation as Wallabies coach.

In the wake of Australia’s disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign, Jones revealed to The Australian he knew his time as the coach of the Wallabies was over after the humiliating defeat to Wales.

But Jones pointed th finger at Rugby Australia, blaming them for the break-up.

“I did want to go on but coaching a team is a bit like being in a marriage, you need commitment from both sides,” Jones told Nine News.

“I was committed to change the team but Rugby Australia at the moment can’t activate the resources which are both financial and political to get the change in place to make real change for Australian rugby.

“I don’t like to be in projects I don’t think that can really get to where they need to get to. And I’ve made that decision, I don’t think that’s the case. Rugby Australia probably doesn’t think that and that’s where the unity of our project is not in a place it needs to be mate.

“Sometimes you go into the bank and you blow it up mate and you don’t come out of the money. And that’s part of the deal as we said at the start we’re going to do a smash and grab. So we got the smash, we didn’t get the grab.”

Jones agreed to walk away from the job after a meeting with Rugby Australia powerbrokers Phil Waugh and Hamish McLennan, with his deed of release to be signed imminently.

The two-time Wallabies coach won’t receive a payout despite being contracted until after the 2027 World Cup.

“I”m not a highly religious person, but you’ve always got a job to do somewhere and sometimes, you’ve got to eat a bit of shit for the people to eat the nice buffet a few years later and maybe I’ve had to eat a bit of shit to do it, you know?” Jones said.

“Because now people are talking about the problem, and now it’s whether they can identify the problem.”

While Jones says he has no regrets over his second stint with the national team, he slammed media criticism over reports he had interviewed for the Japan job.

Eddie Jones reveals why he walked away from the Wallabies. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

“The only thing I’m disappointed about is the media was trying to portray me as not being committed to Australian rugby,” he said.

“The last thing anyone could criticise me about is commitment. Anyone that really knows me, knows I’ve been committed to it. I’ve given it a go.

“It’s the old equation that if you want success you’ve got to have to get the timing right and you’ve got to have an opportunity to do it. Now I’ve got the timing wrong, because we’re not ready for the change yet. But hopefully maybe what I can be is a catalyst for change and people will start to see, we really need to get onto this now [changing Australian rugby’s high performance system].

Jones was adamant he does not have a job to go to, despite the widespread reporting of his links with Japan.

The last time the Wallabies won the Bledisloe Cup was 22 years ago when Jones was first in charge.

It is now 24 years since they won the World Cup, and their group stage exit was the team’s worst ever result.

Jones said the NRL had become a major drain on Australian rugby talent.

“Firstly, it’s capturing the talent,” Jones said. “Currently at the age of 14, 15, every athletic kid, the NRL teams want them if they are tall and they can run, AFL teams want them too - and if they’re tough, rugby teams want them - and what we’re doing, we’re not capturing the amount of talent we need to capture and keeping them.”

“We are letting too many good kids go to NRL and probably some of the tall kids go to the AFL and that is something that needs to be attended to - that’s the first thing.”

Jones also said Australian rugby had to grab “rough diamonds” from the public school system.

Jones said the other major issue was the quality of Super Rugby competition.

“And then secondly, we need a much more competitive environment at the top professional end, and we need players to have to work really hard, to be good players to try to survive,” Jones said.

“Professional sports is a lot about surviving. You’ve got to enjoy the grind. When you talk to any player, what they’re good at doing is enjoying the grind of hard training together. We just don’t have that in Australian rugby at the moment because it’s too easy to get through, to be in the team.

Eddie Jones maintains to didn’t speak to Japan rugby. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/ Monique Harmer

“Out of the five Super Rugby teams, we’ve got one team, that’s an average of 40 per cent against New Zealand teams winning. The other four teams have got an average of less than 20 per cent winning. We’re just not competitive. And what does that tell you? That environment’s not competitive, that’s all that tells you.”

Jones defended rugby chair McLennan, who is also under pressure to quit.

“The problem is not Hamish [McLennan], the problem I believe, is in the talent identification and the high performance system and if they can concentrate on that there’s a pathway forward to the much better times for Australian rugby,” Jones said.

“Hamish has got a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. He just can’t do it at the moment. We’re not in disagreement about what needs to be done but he’s got all the political obstacles, he’s got financial obstacles. And it just can’t be done in time. And so I’m not just going to sit at the trough and accept all that, that’s it, I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that.

“While Hamish definitely wants to change it, he’s been bullish in trying to bring Australian rugby up.

“He’s gone out; got the World Cups and the British Lions has fallen in his lap because timing, he’s put that big picture in front at the top end, what hasn’t been done is this drive of the nuts and bolts which is the high performance of it and the connection between the levels,” Jones said.

“And that’s the thing that’s missing and what they need and they are advertising for it now. They need the best performance director that they can find in Australia to put that system in place and to drive it and to be obsessed by it. They need someone in there that is absolutely obsessed about doing it. You look at all the you look at the NRL clubs, you know Gus Gould did it at Penrith. He said it would take them five years, it took him 10 years. Look what’s happened now, he’s doing the same at Canterbury.”

Jones was criticised for leaving out the likes of Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper.

But he said he has no regrets.

Eddie Jones at the Rugby World Cup this year. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

“I think if we kept with the status quo, maybe we would have had a quarterfinal exit at the World Cup maybe? Now does that really help us or hinder us in the future? What I decided to do was; I’ll bite the bullet, I will go for the young players and see if we can play above ourselves,” Jones said.

“We probably played to our form, with what we’ve got now is, is there’s probably now 24 of that 33 that went to the World Cup who’ve now got the right level of experience … and they’ve had that massive disappointment, so for the next four years they work really hard being the best team they can be, then they can be a team that can go close to winning the World Cup, I’ve got no doubt about that.”

“So I feel disappointed about the World Cup. I feel disappointment about the fact that what we wanted to do in terms of changing the system hasn’t been able to happen in the short term. In the short and medium term, it really affects me personally. I have a major feeling of disappointment. But I don’t feel any grievance towards anyone.”

“I’ve really enjoyed coaching the players. The players have been fantastic. They just need a better environment to be training and playing in.”

Jones said he would now spend more time with his wife Hiroko.

“I haven’t got any job offer ...I’ve been living apart from my wife because she lives in Japan,” he said. “I want to spend a bit of time with her. I want to stay married. I think at 63 I don’t want to get divorced. And then come December, I’ll start to have a look and see what I’d like to coach another international team, I like to coach one more team. One more cycle.”

Originally published as Eddie Jones quits: Former Wallabies coach points finger at Rugby Australia