Eddie Jones wants ‘retribution’

New head coach says he’ll blank former employers at the RFU if Australia and England face each other in France.

Eddie Jones says he is seeking “retribution” after taking charge of Australia and that he will not talk to his former bosses at the RFU if England and the Wallabies meet at the World Cup.

Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, said that he was anxious not to part ways “on bad terms” when Jones was sacked last month, which was a factor in not preventing him from taking another job immediately.

The RFU decided it was “morally” right not to insert a non-compete clause in the 62-year-old’s severance package, even though Sweeney knew that Jones could end up coaching against England at the World Cup in France, either with group rivals Japan or Australia.

“I’m not thinking about England, I’m thinking about retribution because the most important thing is to get Australia playing really well and consistently well,” Jones told Nine Newspapers. “If we happen to meet England on the way, well and good. I might have a conversation with some of the players and not with the administration. Then we’ll get on with the battle.”

England and Australia are on the same side of the World Cup draw and could meet in the quarter-finals or even in a blockbuster final, which would be a repeat of 2003, when the host nation - coached by Jones - were beaten by Clive Woodward’s England.

“You could maybe pick it now . . . the quarter-final [between Australia and England] could be in Marseille,” Jones said. “Maybe age helps but once the chapter closes, it closes.” Twickenham officials confirmed that Jones would not be required to repay any of his severance pay after signing a five-year deal with Rugby Australia (RA) because the RFU deems the matter closed.

Jones was in talks with RA during the last 12 months of his England tenure, with the initial conversation being about a role with the Wallabies starting this time next year, after the World Cup, when his RFU contract had been due to expire.

Hamish McLennan, the RA chairman, was surprised when the RFU sacked Jones and even more shocked to discover he had not been placed on gardening leave and was available to be, in his words, “weaponised” immediately.

Of more immediate concern, though, is this year’s global tournament, which starts in September, and the prospect of Jones returning to haunt England.

The Times revealed on Sunday night that RA had sacked Dave Rennie and appointed Jones to lead the Wallabies into a period that is expected to be critical for the future prospects of the sport down under - Australia will host the 2025 British & Irish Lions and then the World Cup in 2027.

Of more immediate concern, though, is this year’s global tournament, which starts in September, and the prospect of Jones returning to haunt England.

Sweeney says he is relaxed about the possibility of the two sides meeting and backed Steve Borthwick, England’s new head coach, to prevail.

“In a situation like that where you are taking the move [to sack someone], it is a bit difficult to [insert a non-compete clause],” Sweeney said. “There wasn’t a concern about that. Whatever happens in that direction is fine. Whatever happens will happen.”

Asked in December whether he would be at peace with Jones coaching one of England’s rivals, Sweeney said, “Yeah. We are confident with Steve and Kevin [Sinfield, the defence coach]. I’m sure he’ll get the best out of that England team and if that’s how it is in the quarter-final, it will be a great day.”

Jones said he had “no ill feeling” towards the RFU, although it was clear that relationships had become frayed. He said he could sense a change within the RFU and had heard things which made him expect that the end was approaching after England finished the year with a losing record.

When the RFU board made its decision, Jones refused to allow it to fudge his departure as a mutual decision. “Eddie has made a huge contribution to English rugby,” Sweeney said. “He was here nearly seven years and, until we had that poor run of results in 2022, his win ratio was 81 per cent. He is a great World Cup coach. We didn’t want to leave on bad terms and holding him in high regard was the right thing to do.”

Jones has six Tests with Australia before the World Cup, starting with a Rugby Championship game against South Africa in Pretoria in July. The Wallabies have not won the Bledisloe Cup - the trophy at stake when they play New Zealand, usually in a three-match series - since 2002, during Jones’s first stint in charge of the side.

He was sacked as Wallabies coach in 2005. “I never divorced Australian rugby, they divorced me,” Jones said. “Now we’re remarrying. Who said you can’t go to the altar twice?”

The Times