The supporting cast who help give Eddie Jones the edge over rivals
AFL players, NRL legends, judo coaches and football coaching gurus - meet the supporting cast who have helped England coach Eddie Jones pull off some of the biggest upsets in rugby.
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One of the oddball sights of the 2003 Rugby World Cup was AFL champion Michael Voss appearing around Wallabies coach Eddie Jones before the epic semi-final against the All Blacks.
What possible difference could a handballing expert, who wore a sleeveless jersey, possibly make to the intellect of a rugby team flogged 50-21 by the Kiwis just four months before?
Well, Voss did big time and so did the master coach.
The 22-10 overthrow of the All Blacks in Sydney in 2003 was nearly as stunning as his Japanese team’s barely-believable win over South Africa at the 2015 tournament.
Jones has pulled off two of the great World Cup boilovers so why not a third with England in Saturday’s semi-final against the All Blacks in Yokohama?
Voss, just seven weeks after leading the Brisbane Lions to a third straight AFL flag, wasn’t showing the Wallabies how to throw a ball into the lineout or feed a scrum.
He was sharpening their mental game by finding the perfect words for how to think and the absolute belief needed in each other.
“Know your role. Accept your role. Perform your role” was at the core of what Voss told them.
It will still take 23 Englishmen doing just that to turn this World Cup on its head on Saturday night but Jones has literally canvased sport’s best minds to make it possible.
“Eddie the Edge” had British judo coaches in a few years ago to see if there was a legal way to slow down breakdown ball with grappling tips.
He tweaked his balance of physical and fast in training sessions after watching football’s coaching guru Pep Guardiola at his former club Bayern Munich.
He chatted to England’s former Aussie cricket coach Trevor Bayliss about the best use of senior players.
He’s used former NRL forward Jason Ryles as a tackling expert in the past and another Aussie, Scott Wisemantel, is the attack coach behind England’s improved backline play.
Jones’ search to be a better coach had him asking that question to former Adelaide Crows AFL coach Neil Craig, who has been England rugby’s high-performance boss since 2017 to give concrete meaning to values like “teamwork.”
Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart drifted into England camp earlier in the tournament just as he did with the Wallabies in 2003.
“You can never take your foot off the pedal, because when you do you get weak,” Jones says.
Three of the four teams which lost quarter-finals, including the Wallabies (63 per cent), won more ball so what does that tell you?
Eddie knows that answer and it’s got nothing to do with “Sideshow Eddie” distracting everyone with spying theories and chatter about the unbearable pressure on the world’s greatest team.
More big, brutal, rushing defence is what Jones has in store.
Just like in 2003, Jones will be happy if the All Blacks have the ball early because even they spill the pill when jolted hard by the likes of tackling menace Sam Underhill.
Take the chances that come their way and Eddie’s England can produce another miracle.
Originally published as The supporting cast who help give Eddie Jones the edge over rivals