Rugby 2023: Eddie Jones turns to one of code’s great success stories to restart Wallabies resurgence

It’s the breeding ground of some of Australia’s finest rugby players and Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says it must not be neglected if Australia is to ever return to its former glory days.

CORRECTION / In this handout photo taken on January 31, 2023 by Rugby Australia Karen Watson, Australian Eddie Jones addresses the press during the official announcement of his arrival as head coach for the Australian rugby team.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has joined calls for the strengthening of the hugely successful Australian Schoolboys after complaints by organisers that Rugby Australia has turned its back on the famed program.

The Australian Schoolboys program is one of the code’s great success stories — producing over 200 Wallabies, including some of the code’s legendary players — but the Australian School Rugby Union (ASRU) officials are unhappy.

They claim Rugby Australia is ignoring their long contribution of schoolboys — and now schoolgirls — by cutting funds and forcing players to choose Super Rugby academies over the traditional rite of passage to Australian honours.

Rugby Australia disputes this, saying their own state-based programs provide more funding and better pathways to talented school players, but ASRU says there’s room for both.

“We want to work together with Rugby Australia,” ASRU secretary Steve O’Donnell told News Corp.

“Previously, the schools pathway was the pathway to the national national teams but at the moment there‘s sort of two different pathways. We just think we can both work side by side.”

Rugby Australia used to provide $500,000 a year to the Australian Schoolboys but cut off funding a decade ago after a change of leadership.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones Jones did not wade into the row between RA and ARU but did say he was a strong supporter of Schoolboy rugby after he nearly made the 1977 squad.

ASRU has continued raising its own funds through its foundation, locking in plans to host Tonga boys last this year and send a girl’s sevens team overseas for the first time.

But the ASRU says it has become increasingly frustrated by the number of players turning down the chance for selection in the iconic team because they have prioritised the academies.

“I wouldn‘t say it’s Rugby Australia, but essentially some of the kids we’d like to select, some of them were intimidated by certain coaches because they had games for them which they wanted to make sure they weren’t injured,” foundation chair David Mortimer said.

“But hopefully that‘s all behind us now. I’d like to think that under the new (RA) regime that they’re aware of the importance of schoolboy rugby and give us a little bit of support.”

RA executive Ben Whitaker told News Corp RA has no beef with the ARU but made some strategic changes that now provide the most talented players the “opportunity to be identified, selected and exposed to the highest-level rugby programs”.

“Whilst the current system working with talented school players, schools and associations has changed since 2018, Rugby AU and the State Unions/Super Rugby Clubs continue to work closely with the school rugby system to manage the requirements and expectations of the schools and their students,” Whitaker said.

Eddie Jones says every successful World Cup team in the world generally it started at the under-18s level. Then into the 20s and they come up into the senior level.

“This includes effectively managing the training and playing schedules of the best young school talent across the country.

“It is not in the best interests of the students or schools for the best school players to have to commit to all representative pathways when there is adequate support and dedicated pathways to manage a student’s playing and representative ambitions as well as their welfare.”

Jones did not wade into the row between RA and ARU but did say he was a strong supporter of schoolboy rugby after he nearly made the 1977 squad — the most famous team of all, that included 10 future Wallabies and rugby league legend Wally Lewis and laid the foundations for the 1984 grand slam and 1991 and 1999 World Cup champions.

“It‘s massively important. It’s a chance for the best kids to play with the best kids. It gives them a chance to play other countries, and experience that feeling of playing together,” Jones said.

“You look at every successful World Cup team in the world and generally it started at the 18s level. Then into the 20s and they come up into the senior level.

“I think you‘ve always got to do more. I’m not privy to the extent of how much they’re doing now but you always want to do more and you always can do more. But you’ve got to find a way to do it.

“I think with the experience they can beat anyone in the world, and then continues through to what — the 91 World Cup, 84 grand slam. All of that success in that period was built on the success of the ‘77 schoolboy side.”

Jones: Aussies need to stick boot into possession rugby

Eddie Jones has delivered a sobering warning to misty-eyed Wallabies fans hoping his whirlwind return to the national coaching job will trigger a new era of Australian running rugby.

There was a time when the Wallabies were the envy of world rugby because of their spectacular free-flowing style but Jones has destroyed those romantic notions with a blistering assessment of the modern game.

“Possession in rugby is dead for the moment and it‘s probably going to be dead for a long period of time,” Jones said.

“The game is about being fast now, 75% of the tries scored are in three phases, so why would you keep the ball for 10 phases.

“It‘s just stupid to think like that anymore and unfortunately there’s that thinking still in rugby.

“We‘ve got to play smart, we’ve got to play to what the laws are now and we’ve got to play to our strengths.”

Newly appointed Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says today’s game is about being fast.

The return of Jones has got everyone in Australian rugby giddy with excitement and while his comments about the traditional running game would once have been considered heresy, he’s not wrong.

Whether Wallabies fans like it or not, the teams that have been successful on the international stage are the ones that kick the ball the most and Australia needs to wise up or continue to be left behind.

“If we kick the ball 70 times and we beat New Zealand everyone‘s going to be happy,” Jones said.

“But if we kick the ball 10 times and we get beaten 40-10, they‘re going to walk out there kicking stones. So we’ve got to be junkies for winning, not junkies for possession.”

While Jones is still months away from selecting his first Wallabies team since he was reappointed after being sacked by England, he did give some insights into what he’s looking for.

Admitting he was unimpressed by what he’d seen so far from this year’s Super Rugby season, Jones said the key for Australia was embracing a style that played to the strength of the team’s Pasifika players — who account for 60 per cent of the elite player pool.

“We can‘t play long phase and hold the ball with different sets of gene pools,” he said.

“We‘ve got to play to our strengths, which is about being smart, which is about being really fast and aggressive on the first couple of phases and then being able to kick constructively to get the ball back.

Eddie Jones wants the Aussies to be fast and aggressive on the first couple of game phases.

“We don‘t want to kick to give it to them. We want to kick to get the ball back and we’ve got to be really good at playing that game.

“We can be smarter and we could be more powerful than any other team because you just have a look at the Australian backline we could pick.

“We‘ve probably got the most powerful backline in the world, but we can’t use that by keeping the ball for 10 or 12 phases because they don’t have the petrol in the tank. When your car’s going on empty you’ve got to put some petrol in it so we;ve got to put petrol in our players.”

Jones also called for Australia to consider moving away from its traditional state-based system, saying the teams enjoying the most success had all adopted a centralised model.

“You just look at the rankings, the top seven in the world, any of those teams can beat each other,” he said.

“Previously we had New Zealand ahead for a long period of time and then usually a second team chasing them.

“Now we‘ve got seven teams all competing, talents equalised, sport science equalised and now it comes back to a number of smaller factors that you’ve got to get right in your country.

“And obviously most of the countries now are going towards a centralised model to drive the national team to be better.“

Originally published as Rugby 2023: Eddie Jones turns to one of code’s great success stories to restart Wallabies resurgence