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Eddie Jones capitalising on England's World Cup with series of Japanese commercial deals

By Online Editors
Eddie Jones is proving he is big in Japan (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones is capitalising on England’s World Cup campaign in Japan through the promotion of a number of personal commercial deals.

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The latest in a string of endorsements is evident in Sapporo, the host city for England’s tournament opener against Tonga on Sunday.

Posters display Jones in a blazer and open-neck white shirt, sat at a table on which sits a bottle of Japanese gin named ‘Roku’. Headlining the poster is the phrase ‘Eddie Recommend’. Roku gin is a part of brewing and distilling company Suntory, who are owners of the Sungoliath club that participates in the nation’s professional league.

Jones, the former head coach of Japan who oversaw the Brave Blossoms’ most successful World Cup in 2015, has a paid consultancy role with the Top League side that is permitted by the Rugby Football Union.

The Australian’s duties have been compared to those of a director of rugby and he has held the position for the duration of his near four-year England reign.

(Continue reading below…)

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Jones has been visible in his promotion of bags made by Japanese company ‘Hunting World’, one of which hung from his shoulder as he passed through the arrival hall of Miyazaki Airport despite Canterbury being England’s official kit supplier.

The 59-year-old is also the frontman for a film promoting Sapporo that is entitled ‘Rugby Legends Journeys In Japan’, in which he strolls through a market and eats crab before enjoying a plate of noodles. Jones is understood to be the highest-paid coach in Test rugby, earning £750,000 a year including bonus-related pay.

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When contacted for comment about the endorsements, a Rugby Football Union spokesman said: “We are aware of this and comfortable with it.”

– Press Association 

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Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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