Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
Why is Eddie Jones leaving the Wallabies?
I chatted to him off the record when the deal had not yet been signed but was getting there, and his broad answer was that it was because he had lost belief that Rugby Australia would deliver the resources he needed to turn the Wallabies around.
In his words, “No money, no strategy. The changes we agreed cannot be done as we planned so I don’t believe I can make the difference we need.”
He is absolutely insistent, however, that he has “no job to go to. Not going to Japan.”
What will you do now? “I sit for [a] while. Spend some time with [my wife] Hiroko. We have had to live apart essentially last year. It’s been tough.”
Fitz: And what is your primary feeling, as you take your leave of the Wallabies? The honest feeling in your heart? Relief? Devastation? Sorrow?
Eddie Jones and Peter FitzSimons were in touch shortly after news broke that Jones’ second stint at the helm of the Wallabies was over.Credit: Nine
Jones: “Disappointment, mate. [I] gave it a run. Hopefully be the catalyst for change. Sometimes you have to eat shit for others to eat caviar further down the track.”
Fitz: What will we carve on your Wallaby coach tombstone? I’ve got the chisel, and ask you to finish the epitaph: “Here lies the rugby coaching supremo Eddie Jones. Twice Wallaby coach. He…”
Jones: “Never left a stone unturned.”
Fitz: And what are your words of farewell to the 2023 Wallaby World Cup squad, and words to the Oz rugby community?
Jones: “Keep showing up. Tide will change.”
Contacted again on Sunday morning, Paris time, to advise that the Herald had independently confirmed he was going, and was about to break the story, I asked him his feelings.
Jones: “Disappointed. I look at SA. Japan beat them in 2015. They changed. [They] encouraged players to play [in Europe]. Voila – back to back [World Cups].”
Fitz: Good point!
Jones: “It’s the major point!”
Go well, Eddie. As Wallaby coach, we will say many things of you. No one will doubt that, at your best, you were the best at getting performance out of your charges, this year aside. And no one will say that whatever your flaws, you didn’t give it your absolute all. You said to me in our interview last week that you were “a gambler, not an ambler”, and it is just so sad that your gamble this year simply failed.
But, as Kenny Rogers said, you’ve gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them, and this was exactly the right time to fold them.
Ideally, the players your brought in this year will take us forward, and we will get back to caviar and raise a glass in your general direction.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
Most Viewed in Sport
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
