Rugby World Cup: Why Eddie Jones was right to blow up the woeful Wallabies

If the Wallabies are ever going to get back to their glory days, it’s going to require a radical change in direction — and Eddie Jones has taken the right steps, writes JULIAN LINDEN.

Eddie Jones was right to blow everything up and start from scratch. Picture: Getty Images

Even if the Wallabies don’t win this year’s World Cup in France, Eddie Jones has done the right thing in taking the nuclear option.

It’s a risky proposition that goes against conventional thinking, but as Jones rightly pointed out, it’s less of a risk than sticking with the same bunch of blokes who have failed time and time again.

Australia has used that doomed approach for too long and it’s been an unmitigated disaster that has brought the game to its knees.

If the Wallabies are ever going to get back to their glory days, it’s going to require a radical change in direction — and that’s what Jones has done by throwing all his chips on youth.

The bleeding hearts crying a river over the axing of a few veterans need to take a cold shower because they are part of the problem.

Complacency is the enemy of success so Jones was absolutely right to blow everything up and start from scratch.

Anyone wanting to get out their pitchforks and torches should vent their anger at Rugby Australia’s past administrators, who lacked the courage and foresight to make the generational changes that has long been needed.

Eddie Jones has done the right thing in taking the nuclear option to the Wallabies. Picture: AFP

It’s a national disgrace the once mighty Wallabies have been allowed to free fall into near obscurity because of woke administrators too afraid to make tough calls, but the line in the sand has now been drawn.

Playing for the Wallabies should never be sort of every-kid-gets-a-ribbon reward for being a nice guy.

It’s meant to be the highest privilege and honour any player can receive so it has to be earnt and should never, ever be taken for granted.

That’s why they call it representative rugby.

The Wallabies aren’t just playing for themselves and their multimillion contracts. They represent everyone who is invested in the game, from players to coaches to kids to parents to volunteers and to supporters.

For all his bravado, Jones understands rugby’s special bond to its grassroots better than most.

In rugby, tough love is true love.

Jones learnt this the hard way when he was Randwick’s first-grade hooker in the old amateur days when the Galloping Greens were the best club side in the country.

In the years leading up to the 1991 World Cup, Jones was a real contender for the Wallabies squad, but he missed his chance when the selectors went down a surprise route, plucking a young Phil Kearns out of Randwick’s reserve side.

It proved an inspired choice. Kearns went on to appear in the Wallabies sides that won the 1991 and 1999 World Cups and later captained his country.

Eddie Jones was right to blow everything up and start from scratch. Picture: Getty Images

Jones left his job as a schoolteacher and turned to coaching, establishing himself as one of the shrewdest minds in the game.

Recalled to the Wallabies’ coaching job after Dave Rennie failed to make any progress in his three years in the job, no-one should be surprised or alarmed that Jones has ripped up the form guide and gone with a new team, that includes 25 World Cup rookies.

In some ways, it’s an admission the Wallabies can’t win in France, but there could be a bigger pay-off later on.

With Australia hosting the World Cup in 2027, it’s clear Jones has his eyes on a bigger prize - and for that alone, he’s done the code a great service.

As he explained himself: “Twenty teams go to the World Cup and there‘s only one really successful team and that’s the team that takes the gold medal.

“But you have teams that go there and play above themselves, winning the hearts of their country and winning the hearts of sports lovers in their country.

“That‘s the sort of team we want to be. First we want to win the World Cup, and if we don’t, then it will be a failure.

“But there are other ways to be successful. And if we come back and everyone in Australia is talking about how good the Wallabies were at the World Cup and how excited they are about watching them play, then we‘ll have some success, but not the success we want in terms of winning the tournament.”

Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Why Eddie Jones was right to blow up the woeful Wallabies