As he prepares for yet another return to the international arena, Eddie Jones has reopened wounds by saying Phil Waugh’s failure to deliver on promises left him with no choice but to leave his post as Wallabies coach.
Amid a month of backlash following his decision to talk to Japanese representatives on the eve of last year’s World Cup, Jones walked out on the Wallabies on October 29 less than one year into his five-year deal with Rugby Australia.
Six weeks later, Jones signed with the Japan Rugby Football Union to return as head coach eight years after masterminding the World Cup’s greatest upset.
Upon walking out, Jones claimed that RA couldn’t live up to their end of the bargain surrounding important structural changes that the veteran coach viewed as being essential to the betterment of Australian rugby.
Those changes included a centralisation of the professional arm of the game, which would see the governing body be able to make changes without needing the states’ backing.
However, an inability to secure a much-needed financial injection from private equity appeared to be the final straw for Jones. It meant RA didn’t have the resources to be able to lead the sheep back to the station.
Eddie Jones has blamed Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh (R) for failing to deliver on plans as the reason for walking out on the Wallabies. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
RA was left in the lurch surrounding Jones’ decision to talk with a JFRU recruitment team ahead of the World Cup.
Waugh, who was less than six months into his first year as chief executive, said had Jones spoken to the JFRU about taking on a new role as head coach he would view it as an act of betrayal.
He later said the Wallabies’ World Cup budget blew out by $2.6 million in unapproved spending.
While Jones has said plenty since his sensational decision to walk out on Australian rugby, which followed the Wallabies’ worst World Cup campaign, the veteran coach revealed for the first time that he went to Waugh throughout the World Cup to express his concerns about the governing body’s ability to usher through promised changes.
Went it became apparent RA wouldn’t meet the promises in his contract, he opted to walk.
“When they offered me the job, I said I will take the job but we’ve got to make changes,” Jones told former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander in an exclusive interview with Code Sports.
“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.
“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.”
Eddie Jones during a Wallabies training session, at Stade Roger Baudras in Saint-Etienne on October 07, 2023. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Jones once again reiterated his stance that he had done nothing wrong by speaking to recruiters.
“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.”
Jones claimed he didn’t care what others back home thought about him, saying the events of the past few months, including the decision not to hand back the Rebels’ license, revealed the necessity for RA to demand change.
“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.
“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.”
Eddie Jones at a press conference at Japan Olympic Square on December 14, 2023 in Tokyo. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)
Jones will return to the international area on Saturday against England, who he took to the 2019 World Cup final before being sacked one year out from the 2023 tournament.
The 63-year-old will name his side to take on England on Thursday afternoon, with his former assistant coach Steve Borthwick deciding to name his side well ahead of schedule on Tuesday.
Borthwick named Marcus Smith, who Jones first brought into his camp as a teenager before later backing the prodigious playmaker to the hilt, at fly-half.
The Test will be a good opportunity for Borthwick to prepare for their crunch three-match series against the All Blacks in New Zealand.