Eddie Jones’ appointment as Australian coach in a bombshell $4.5 million deal has obtained loads of media consideration over within the United Kingdom, and understandably so.
Less than seven weeks after being stood down as England mentor, the 62-year-old has signed a five-year take care of one of many nation’s largest rivals — and there’s a Rugby World Cup simply across the nook.
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On Monday morning, Dave Rennie was sacked as Wallabies coach following an underwhelming three-year stint as nationwide coach, with Jones unveiled as his alternative.
Jones has eight months to arrange Australia for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, formally beginning the brand new position on January 29.
News of Jones’ appointment inevitably ruffled some feathers over within the England. The Australian’s sacking raised eyebrows final month, and now the Red Roses might come towards him and a reinvigorated Wallabies outfit within the World Cup quarter-finals.
“The nightmare for England might only just be beginning,” The Telegraph’s chief sports activities author Oliver Brown wrote.
“If there is one constant in his career, it is that he loves nothing better than to rub his tormentors’ faces in the dirt.
“Jones is seldom more dangerous than when he makes it personal.
“Homecomings do not come any more piquant, or more laced with intrigue. For the RFU, it could yet be a hellish reminder of what they have lost.”
Jones’ World Cup file is unrivalled — he boasts successful price of 82 per cent within the match whereas teaching Australia, South Africa, Japan and England in 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2019 respectively.
The Guardian’s Robert Kitson warned that Jones might come again to “haunt English dreams” in France later this yr.
“Until now the most gripping Australian sequel has probably been Mad Max 2. As anyone who has ever watched it will be aware there is a particularly scary moment when Wez, the baddie with the punk mohawk who everyone thought was history, suddenly reappears on the bonnet of the road warrior’s thundering truck. For some at Twickenham the return of Eddie Jones as Australia’s head coach must feel pretty similar,” Kitson wrote.
“Because if the Rugby Football Unions thought it had seen the back of Eddie it has been proved spectacularly wrong. Like Freddie Krueger in a tracksuits he is now back to haunt English dreams.”
The Times’ Owen Slot recommended Jones’ return was exactly what the Wallabies wanted following a disappointing couple of years underneath Rennie, however warned the honeymoon interval may not final 5 years.
“Jones will give the Wallabies a bounce. He will shake them up, reinvigorate, reinspire, he will simplify the message, build momentum and then apply his brilliant coaching brain to the task ahead — the World Cup — and plot something smart. That’s his thing,” Slot stated.
“What he has never done after building a winning team is to sustain their success. He does coaching, not culture; he builds successful campaigns, he doesn’t build empires.
“What is really intriguing is how long the Eddie bounce lasts. Or, to put it another way, that loaded gun that Rugby Australia has in its mouth — how long until it goes bang?”
Slot additionally criticised the RFU for not insisting on a non-compete clause in Jones’ severance bundle, permitting him to signal for a rival nation and take his mental property with him.
“Some nervous Englishmen are asking — when the RFU rewarded Jones with that weighty severance package, why wasn’t there a non-compete clause in there too?” Slot wrote.
Jones appointment endorsed by Kearns | 01:14
“The governing body said that, from ‘legal and moral perspectives’, it would have been ‘unreasonable’ to place restrictions on Jones. But if he had been given just a year’s gardening leave, he could have kept his earning up in club rugby.
“For what it’s worth, I think Australia will get a bounce with Jones and England will get a bounce without him, but England will bounce higher because they happen to have better players.”
Jones is about to guide the Wallabies by means of to the 2027 World Cup on house soil, together with the blockbuster 2025 British & Irish Lions tour.
“Jones’ return is a blockbuster move at a time when the game in Australia could welcome a jolt. Who knows what shape the Wallabies will be in by the time Australia face Warren Gatland’s Wales in that crunch Pool C game in Marseille later this year,” The Telegraph’s Ben Coles wrote.
“But give Jones another couple of years rebuilding and honing a crop of young players who have plenty of promise but are yet to fully deliver, and suddenly a Lions series which initially underwhelmed in comparison to the prospect of facing the All Blacks or Springboks becomes far more intriguing.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
