Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones to take control of Barbarians against Australia
ALAN Jones didn’t have to think long before accepting an invitation to coach the Barbarians in Sydney later this year.
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ALAN Jones didn’t have to think long before accepting an invitation to coach the Barbarians in Sydney later this year.
But he did have one box to tick.
“I have a commitment from them firstly that it was a serious affair,” Jones said.
“I would want the game to be a serious match. We are playing the Wallabies.”
Thirty years after he hung up the clipboard as Wallabies coach, Jones will slip a tracksuit on for a rugby international in October when the Sydney radio king leads the Barbarians into battle with Australia.
The October 28 clash at Allianz Stadium - which will serve a final pre-Spring Tour hitout for the Wallabies - shapes an entertaining clash between the two sides, who first clashed in 1948.
But undoubtedly the most mouth-watering part will be the prospect of Jones going head-to-head with current Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.
Neither qualify as members of the shrinking violet club and both are famous for motivating players in the sheds with soaring rhetoric.
While Jones insists the game won’t be a direct duel between he and Cheika, the former Wallabies coach promises one thing: the home team won’t be getting it easy.
“We don’t want the public coming in the gate for something that is going to be a hit and giggle,” Jones said.
“We are going to invite players to play and we want them to understand from our point of view and the tradition of the Barbarians, it is a very significant game.
“Against that of course, I have a very strong view about how the Barbarians should play their rugby, and that means we are there to play with the ball and entertain the crowd. My Wallabies played against the Barbarians and that was the kind of game we played.
“This is an opportunity for all us - the Barbarian team that is - to contribute to rugby and inject a little bit of interest into the game at a time when things have been a bit difficult.”
Like many - but perhaps with a few more painful blows - Jones has publicly slammed the Australian Rugby Union this year for their mismanagement of the game in recent times. In a heated interview with ARU chairman Cameron Clyne in April, Jones called on CEO Bill Pulver and the board to resign.
Funnily enough, however, news of Jones’ appointment as Barbarians coach will be welcome news for all of those same officials.
His promotional power notwithstanding, Jones’ coaching record - the 1984 Grand Slam and 1986 Bledisloe Cup win at Eden Park still haven’t been repeated - means the Wallabies’ clash with the Barbarians will be keenly anticipated.
Picking a team will be tricky on the eve of the November internationals, and with the All Blacks play the Robbie Deans-coached Barbarians in London a week later. But if Jones gets his way, his “Baa Baas” will have some pulling power at the gate.
“The one player who I know well and who I am a great supporter of an admirer of because I think he is one of the most gifted athletes we have ever seen is Sonny Bill Williams,” Jones said.
“I think that kind of player is suited to the Barbarian tradition. Firstly he is always committing himself to the defence but equally he is always wanting to unload out of the defence. And that’s the way you want to play. It is a bit like the way Campese played. I used to say to Michael Lyngah, don’t worry about anything just follow Campese, he will eventually unload somewhere and you will be in the open space.
“This is what the All Blacks are doing with Sonny Bill Williams and I think it is an exciting way. When people see the bloke with the ball in hand they think something is going to happen here. So that’s the way I think we have got to play it. We have got to make the turnstiles turn.”
Jones said he is a huge admirer of the Barbarians tradition. His last interaction with the famous black-and-white hoops was in 1984, after the Wallabies had banked their Grand Slam.
“That game was magnificent. We scored about six tries and five of them were from counter-attack,” Jones said.
“There is a great flaw in the modern game in that if the ball is the bank, I don’t understand why teams are always giving the bank back to the other side. There is an awful lot of kicking in the modern game.”
Jones, who was interviewed for the Wallabies job in 2007, last coached a year later when he lead the Australian Barbarians in a charity match.
He said he’d never stopped thinking like a coach.
“When you are a coach and you sit in front of a television you are always a coach,” Jones said.
“It’s a short term thing but I would like to think I have something to say to the players in the preparation for this which will be beneficial for them and to the game.”
It may have been thirty years between internationals, but Jones is looking forward to doing battle with the Wallabies.
“Michael Cheika is a person who had my enduring respect. I think he has done a lot for rugby worldwide, not just here. It will be good for the fans, good for the platers and good for the tradition of the Barbarians,” Jones said.
“The most important point I’d like to make is the Barbarians are a significant rugby institution and this is a very significant tradition that we are honouring and continuing. So it’s an honour to be asked.”
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