Former Wallabies coach felt ‘in his heart’ he had to quit Australia and speaks to the future of rugby

Former Wallabies coach, Eddie Jones opens up to LISA ALEXANDER and reveals the truth behind his Wallabies departure, taking the reins at Japan and the impact it all had on him.

Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has revealed the truth about his conversations with Japan while he was Wallabies coach during last year’s tumultuous World Cup and why “in his heart” he had to quit Australia over broken promises.

Speaking as he prepared to relaunch his coaching career with Japan this weekend against England, Jones sat down for an hour-long chat with former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander as part of a Code Sports coaching video series to reflect upon his career – the highs and the lows.

In a revealing two-part discussion, Jones talks about last year’s dramatic Wallabies period, how he felt being sacked by the Wallabies in 2005 and the future of the game in Australia.

In part two tomorrow, Jones talks about media feuds, falling out with assistant coaches, his personal coaching philosophy and the impact on his family.

Click here to watch the full interview on Youtube

Australia Head Coach Eddie Jones departed the Wallabies after the 2023 World Cup. Picture: Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images

THE TRUTH ABOUT WALLABIES AND JAPAN

Jones says his departure from the Wallabies, after the failed World Cup campaign, only came about after Australian Rugby failed to deliver on key promises that were written into his contract.

He wanted a complete high-performance overhaul, greater alignment between the Super rugby teams and offered a cheaper restructure to partly achieve his goal, but was rejected.

At that point, he had to walk.

“When they offered me the job, I said I will take the job but we’ve got to make changes,” he said.

“Me coming in is not going to change what has happened to Australian rugby so we needed to change the whole high performance system so we could have almost an Australian version of what Ireland have done to make it simple.

“Have our best players operating at a high level together most of the year – that would give us our best chance.

“It was going to take political power and financial power to do that.

“In the contract I signed by a certain date if they had not done that the contract was null and void.

Eddie Jones wanted a complete high performance overhaul. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“During the World Cup I went a number of times to the CEO and said this is what we’ve got, we’ve already put in a plan, we’ve had a number of discussions but you’re not coming back to me and telling me what is going to happen.

“We went back to the Union, put in another plan that cost far less than the first plan to run a modified high performance system and they said no.

“It would’ve been easy for me to stay there. Lead up to the (2027) World Cup, you’ve got a home World Cup.

“But in the heart of my heart I could not do it because I don’t think I could change Australian rugby.

“Of course we could win more Test matches as the players get a little bit better they will do that.

“But we are never going to have the considerable change we need to have.

“I didn’t want a job where I was just doing it for the sake of doing it, I wanted to make change and to make change we had to change the system.

“The answer was pretty easy. It was then I decided to apply for the Japan job. I had not done anything with Japan.”

Jones said the conversation with Japan during the World Cup was actually with a recruitment company. It was not a job interview, it was the recruitment company canvassing opinions about what Jones thought Japan should be looking for in their global search of a new coach and says it is the type of discussions all coaches do with rival clubs behind the scenes.

“A recruitment company came to me to say can you talk to us about what Japan needs.

So I did that and that was it,” he said.

“(As a head coach) you meet with a number of clubs and they ask you what should we do, you’re not applying for a job and that happens all the time.”

Asked if the bitter fallout had impacted his relationships with people in Australia, Jones said the plight of the Rebels and the financial strain of the Brumbies was proof the system was broken in this country.

“Honestly I don’t really care what people say because at the end of the day the only person whose opinion really counts is mine,” he said.

Eddie Jones is set to relaunch his coaching career as Japan head coach. Picture: Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

“I can sit back and I can say with honesty what I said to you and that was the situation.

“I wanted to make Australia work and I wanted to change Australian rugby but the circumstances was such that no one seemed determined to do it.

“We have seen what has happened this year. We have one team fallen over, our best performing super rugby team in financial problems, so something has to change.

“And it’s not the head coach.

“The head coach will make a difference obviously if you’re there for a period of time and I’m sure Joe (Schmidt) will do a great job

“But there needs to be more fundamental changes to the system.”

THE PAIN OF GETTING SACKED

While last year was a bitter end, it was getting sacked from the Wallabies job in 2005 that hurt most of all.

Just two years after taking Australia to the World Cup final, Jones was given his marching orders.

If there is one thing he has learnt about coaching international rugby, it’s that there is a very small window of success for most countries and the biggest challenge is keeping the window open while you try to rebuild at the highest level.

“When I lost the job at Australia after five years I was pretty devastated. When I look back now it probably took me a while to recover from that,” Jones said.

“Every team you have got an arc where you have a honeymoon period … you usually only get a team that is in distress, you never get a team when it’s flying.

“So you change things and everyone is happy and if you do things well you’ve probably only got a three-year period where you have got to win.

“If you win then that job has been really enjoyable.

“But you know then after that you’ve got to rebuild again and that is the tricky part.

“When the expectations are high … you’ve got to make the change at some stage and that is the thing I’ve always found the most difficult, how you get that balance right.”

AUSTRALIAN RUGBY UNDER THREAT

Jones was at the forefront of rugby’s poaching raid on rugby league over 20 years ago when the likes of Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri switched codes from the NRL.

Just before his return, Joseph Aukouso Sualli was signed from the Sydney Roosters for next year and the NRL has since fought back, convincing Mark Nawaqanitawase (Roosters) and Carter Gordon (Gold Coast Titans) to walk away from rugby and join the NRL next season.

Jones said he was shocked at how badly rugby was performing in the battle for the best talent.

“It’s interesting, the thing I noticed coming back was not so much the state of rugby, but how progressive NRL and AFL have become and how aggressive they were in every aspect - the marketing of the game, even the way the game is played, the development,” he said.

“You go watch a traditional GPS game in Sydney and you say those three kids (you identify as talent) and it’s like ‘oh no he is with the Roosters or he is with Parramatta.’

“All the best talent has already been signed by the NRL.

“The problem again is how serious are Australian rugby in developing talent?

“If you’re serious you start taking steps to address that … you’ve got to get the best athletes.”

* PART II tomorrow: Eddie Jones on the personal toll of coaching on family, his feuds with the media and falling out with assistant coaches.