1
Eddie Jones' 'absolutely fascinating' 2020 Rugby Championship prediction
England head coach Eddie Jones is predicting next year’s Rugby Championship will be “absolutely fascinating” on the back of coaching changes and differing World Cup results.
ADVERTISEMENT
After claiming the Webb Ellis Cup for the third time in Japan last month, the Springboks will head into the tournament with the aim of retaining their 2019 Rugby Championship crown, which they sealed with a 46-13 thrashing of Argentina in Salta in August.
They will do so with world champion head coach Rassie Erasmus overseeing procedures from a director of rugby role with the South African Rugby Union.
The Season: Hamilton Boys High School – Episode 4
By comparison, the All Blacks will name either Ian Foster or Scott Robertson as their new head coach next week following the departure of Steve Hansen to the Top League in Japan.
Whoever is instated as All Blacks boss will have to overturn New Zealand’s dismals fortunes from 2019 after they lost both their Rugby Championship and World Cup titles in what turned out to be a disappointing campaign for Hansen’s men.
Australia, meanwhile, have lured Kiwi-born Dave Rennie from the Glasgow Warriors to replace Michael Cheika as Wallabies head coach as they look to move on from a dismal showing at the World Cup, where they were bundled out in the quarter-finals by Jones’ impressive England side.
After their exit in the pool stages following defeats to England and France, Argentina will also be looking to resurrect themselves and follow in the footsteps of their Super Rugby franchise, the Jaguares, which made the Super Rugby final for the first time in their brief history in July.
ADVERTISEMENT
The last year has been a bit of a PR disaster for the Crusaders.https://t.co/lI55S1tyQ8
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 3, 2019
Speaking to Sport24 in South Africa as part of his promotion for his new autobiography – Eddie Jones: My Life and Rugby – Jones said the 2020 Rugby Championship was set to be an enthralling affair.
“I think it will be absolutely fascinating … a bit like the Six Nations often pans out for (excitement),” said the former Wallabies head coach and ex-Springboks assistant.
“You’ll have New Zealand absolutely desperate for revenge, with a new coach, and the players will still be hurting.
“But Australia will be immeasurably stronger under Dave Rennie, who is a very, very good coach … he’ll bring them together and they’ll play decent rugby.
“It will be a great tournament, perhaps one of the best for (a while).”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5mOHdQA3lc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Jones predicted that Erasmus will still be a hugely influential figure for the Springboks despite his role change with the SARU.
“Rassie’s done a great job with the Springboks. As director he will have a wider range of responsibilities but at the end of the day he’ll still have a great interest in how they shift onward,” Jones said.
“Under the [current coaching group] they’ve made the country proud and they will want that to continue.”
Jones also made a bold prediction about the next World Cup in France in four years’ time, stating that the world will see a re-emergence from the hosts after back-to-back quarter-final exits in 2015 and 2019.
“I think France are going to be really dangerous; they’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
“A good sign is that they won the last U20 World Cup [in Argentina earlier this year] so they clearly have a lot of good young players coming through – they should become increasingly more dangerous over the next four years.”
In saying that, the 59-year-old, who is re-signed with England until 2021, believes his side will again be strong contenders to challenge for the 2023 title after falling short this year, where they lost 32-12 to South Africa in the final in Yokohama.
“Look, I took over an English team with a lot of potential; I certainly felt we were good enough to win the 2019 World Cup. We are the youngest team statistically to play in the final yet,” Jones told Sport24.
“If the players have the same desire they showed (for the latest World Cup) going forward, then we’ll only keep improving.”
In other news:
ADVERTISEMENT
Comments on RugbyPass
Are the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
2 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
2 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to comments