Eddie’s on ‘smash and grab’ World Cup mission

Eddie Jones says being underestimated by the rugby world is good for the Wallabies as he prepares to return to Twickenham in charge of the Barbarians.

Samu Kerevi and Quade Cooper centrestage at a Wallabies training camp earlier this year. Picture: Getty Images.

As Eddie Jones puts it, no-one ­really thinks Australia can win the Rugby World Cup. The Wallabies coach does.

Jones has made no secret that for his team to win the World Cup it will need a bold “smash and grab” job in France and he believes he’s got the team to do it – on and off the field.

“The stage is set for the most intriguing battle and probably the good thing for us, is that no one really thinks we can win it and that suits the Australian mentality,” Jones told The Weekend Australian from London, where he is preparing to coach the Barbarians at Twickenham.

“That, for Australians, tends to drive a greater sense of urgency and determination. I think that‘s just the way we’re built.”

His belief is founded on the knowledge that this World Cup will be the most open in the tournament’s history.

“I think there’s seven teams going into the World Cup who when they go to the barrier, there’s a nose between them,” Jones said.

“At every Cup in the past there’s been a clear favourite, which has generally been New Zealand, and there’s been a gap to two and three. But if you look at it now you have that difference between one and seven.”

He points to Ireland and France “clearly” being the best teams over the past three years and Australia – currently ranked seventh – will be underestimated going into this event and that’s more than OK in Jones’ eyes.

Australia kicks-off its The Rugby Championship campaign against South Africa in Pretoria on July 8. But this weekend his focus is on the Barbarians who take on the World XV, but Jones will have a close eye on two potential World Cup Wallabies – Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi – who will play for his side.

While Jones will be returning to Twickenham for the first time since departing as England’s coach, he didn’t care to go deep on all this; “I had a good time. I don’t have any ill-feeling.”

“The one thing you try to do when you go to a place, is to leave it in a better place,” Jones said. “And I think ultimately that’s what I did in England and people will make judgments on whether you got enough out of the team and I’m not going to change their judgment.”

What’s done is done in Jones’ eyes – an irrefutable fact is that he left with the highest winning percentage of any England coach – but his focus now is the Wallabies and this World Cup.

“I’m just worried about the things I can control,” Jones said. “Which would be catching up with Quade and Samu, which will be a big advantage for us in terms of our World Cup prep. To see where they’re up to, talk about the philosophy of how they want to play and see how much they can bring to the table.”

Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones with World Cup hopefuls Andrew Kellaway, Reece Hodge and Pone Fa'amausili at the MCG earlier this month. Picture: Getty Images

This week he had coffee with Cooper, who’s been recovering from an achilles injury. It’s expected that Jones could name up to three No.10s in his squad.

“Like any player, there’s plenty of talent, it’s about how hard they’re prepared to work and how much they can improve,” Jones said. “He’s a team player. I would expect him to come back to form pretty quickly.”

Then there’s Kerevi.

“The only thing that I can gauge is his mental state at the moment, which I feel is very positive and very focused on being the best player he can be. He is very focused on winning to help Australia win the World Cup,” Jones said. “So that’s positive for us.”

Jones says right now, his main task, is to instil a winning mentality into the Australian team – and with that he would like Australia’s Super Rugby Pacific teams to start winning more.

“Obviously we’d like the players to be winning more, winning is a good habit to have,” Jones said. “It’s a good process to have.

“And when you’re not winning much, you’ve got to learn a new process. So I would definitely like to see the Super Rugby or the players winning more. That’s stating the obvious. In terms of improvements in players look, there’s been, I think, a majority of players who got better during Super Rugby, which is positive.”

Around him, Jones has assembled a different mix of assistant coaches. It’s all part of his “smash and grab” plan.

Some of his assistants, who have dubbed Jones “the General,” include Brad Davis as his attack coach, with former Australian internationals Dan Palmer (lineout) and Berrick Barnes (kicking) also joining the staff. Then there is Pierre-Henry Broncan (maul) who is Jones’ wildcard.

As Jones says, his crew is experienced, diverse and capable.

“It is very much set up for the smash and grab,” he said of his assistants. “You know, we’ve got five months to put together a team, create a different style of play that’s possibly more Australian. And to do that I’ve looked for some experience and some inexperience. Some positions we need experience, some we just need hard workers. So trying to get a combination of hard workers, some experience, something a little bit different.

“Pierre Broncan brings something different to the table. He doesn’t bring a sirloin steak. He brings something a little bit different, which is that for us to go forward and change our position in the world, we need to do things differently. I needed coaches who can bring change and work together.”

This is Jones’ style; he’s unafraid to be different.

Which is why there may not be a traditional captaincy model either. At the moment, Jones has a group of seven players under the leadership tutelage of psychologist Corinne Reid.

Reid worked with Jones’ England side ahead of the 2019 World Cup – the team lost to the Springboks in the final.

“Well we’ve got seven guys working with our leadership psychologist Corinne Reid, since I’ve basically come to Australia.” he said. “And out of that group of seven, there will be a someone, or a group of people designated to wear the captaincy badge. Yeah, but we need the leadership of the team to be collective. The rugby game now, more and more it’s a player-driven game. We have a game with little intervention from runners now.

“We can’t get a runner on until the 20-minute mark. Generally speaking the players need to be able to work it out.

“So we are looking for a collective group, a group of five or six who can really run the team, make decisions quickly on the field and then at the top of tree there needs to be one or two who can take and pull it all together.”