Almost two years after Eddie Jones left Australian rugby, narrowly avoiding a door slam on his way out, the Wallabies are set to face their former mentor in Tokyo.
Few, if any, in the Australian rugby community shed a tear when Jones packed his pocketbook and headed to Japan to take up the job he hadn’t held before the Wallabies’ 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign descended into complete and utter chaos.
The fact that Jones was announced as the coach of the Brave Blossoms a few weeks later is why this statement is forever taken with a grain of salt.
But for Jones, who set him on the path to an otherwise remarkable coaching career that included winning a Rugby World Cup as an assistant, reaching two more finals in the top job and still the game’s most famous upset, the greatest insult to his country came a few months later.
In a special moment captured in Stan’s documentary, Jones told Wallabies great James Slipper: “That’s the problem, we don’t have any stubbornness.” wallabies.
“The rigor of the game is different than any intensity. It’s just about sticking to the game and doing it. There’s nothing like that in Australian rugby right now. There’s a big gap there, man.”
This statement is incredible, even coming from someone with an amazing one-sentence biography, and must have had the makers of this documentary all smiles. The project, which depicted Australia’s hopes for a successful World Cup, turned into an epic disaster, leaving viewers unable to take their eyes off it.
wallabies He was to prove to be one of the greatest “hate watchers” of all time, and Jones was squarely in charge.
But after all the drama, the Australian’s “stiffness” comments cut to the heart of the match Down Under.
Does Jones have a point? Was that one of the reasons the Wallabies were eliminated in the pool stage of the World Cup for the first time…or was it Eddie’s rant?
Thankfully, as it turns out, nothing is more true. It wasn’t as lacking in “hardness” as Jones thought.
Despite losing the British Irish Lions series, the fact that the Wallabies achieved a comprehensive victory in the third Test showed that the commentary was off the mark. Breaking the drought in Johannesburg for the first time in 62 years confirms this belief.
The incredible come-from-behind victory at the spiritual home of Springbok rugby has captured the attention of the rugby world. It was full of confidence, heart and some sparkling Wallabies rugby you won’t soon forget.
Australia’s ‘hardness’ appeared again in the 86th minute against Townsville, almost conceding a penalty to avoid a chance of a draw, and scoring a try to seal the victory over the Pumas. They were doubly rewarded when Angus Bell charged in from close range.
The Wallabies are by no means finished, and after one of their toughest schedules to date, five consecutive Tests to end this year will be a better measure of how far they have come in 2024 and beyond.
Despite this season’s memorable wins, Australia only have four wins and six losses in 2025, which is exactly the same as their record at this stage last year.
Perhaps Jones didn’t have a suitable player in France? Of the 33 players he selected, only nine were part of Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies, who traveled to Tokyo on Sunday. Some have changed codes or moved overseas, while others, like Nick White and Slipper, have recently retired.
But there are also some who probably shouldn’t have been anywhere near the World Cup group, or who were inexplicably left out completely at the time.
When the Slipper finally fronted the media for the first time since Jones’ comments were revealed, wallabiesthe prop asked, “Do you still want me to be diplomatic?” before admitting that “elements” of his former coach’s statements may have been true.
Now that he’s retired, I have a feeling the Slipper might react somewhat differently, at least when asked about it at the pre-test lunch circuit.
And while current Wallabies captain Harry Wilson, who was never picked by Jones throughout his tumultuous 10-month reign, said on Sunday that next weekend’s clash was nothing personal for the players remaining from that embarrassing 2023 season, the broader Australian rugby public would want nothing more than to exorcise Eddie’s demons once and for all.
Eddie, how hard is it? The Wallabies have shown a lot of that since you left, dude.