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‘Keeps you on your toes’: What it's like to be coached by Eddie Jones
Ahead of Australia’s clash with Argentina in Sydney, Wallabies Matt Philip and Rob Leota have given a fresh insight into the coaching genius of Eddie Jones.
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There’s no denying the fact that Jones is one of the greatest coaches in the history of rugby union. Certainly in the professional era, Jones’ CV is practically unrivalled.
Jones has led both Australia and England to Rugby World Cup Finals, was part of the coaching team that won the ’07 tournament with South Africa, and of course there was that win with Japan.
Jones is a winner and has experienced success with nations around the world.
Even Pumas boss Michael Cheika, who will go head-to-head with Jones on Saturday, described Jones as a “quality coach” – adding that “that’ why Australia wanted to have him back.”
Many rugby fans, pundits and players admire Jones, while others are quite critical of the 63-year-olds methods as an elite coach.
But the current crop of Wallabies appear to be taking to Jones’ philosophy.
Second rower Matt Philip, who has been named on the bench for this weekend’s clash with Los Pumas in Sydney, said he has “really enjoyed” being coached by Jones.
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“It definitely keeps you on your toes a bit,” Philip told reporters on Thursday.
“That expectation and that aura that Eddie brings, it’s been really cool to be a part of.
“You can see why he gets so much success with the teams he’s with because he’s so clear on what he wants and he’s really good at getting that out of the players.
“I’ve’ really enjoyed being in this environment so far and I now we’re gonna get the results.”
The Wallabies started their new era under Jones with a disastrous loss to the world champion Springboks in Pretoria last weekend.
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Australia opened the scoring in the eighth minute through world-class winger Marika Koroibete, but that’s as good as things got for the visitors.
The Springboks took control, and ended up running away with a 43-12 demolition of Jones’ Wallabies.
But the Wallabies aren’t panicking.
Melbourne Rebels forward Rob Leota, who is also set to come off the pine against Argentina, was adamant that Jones “believes in” the playing group.
“Eddie just constantly gives us confidence regardless of the result,” Leota said. “We know we didn’t do the job up in South Africa but all we can control is putting a result out against Argentina.
“The best thing about Eddie is just the confidence he gives us. For me and Matty to be on the bench now… we’re out there to do a job and he believes in us. That’s all that matters.”
The Wallabies host Argentina at Sydney’s CommBank Stadium on Saturday at 7.45 pm AEST.
With less than two months to go until this year’s Rugby World Cup in France, the Wallabies will be eager to bounce back from their disappointing defeat to the Boks.
It’s the Wallabies’ first of two Test matches on home soil this year. The All Blacks will travel to Melbourne for the opening Bledisloe Cup clash in a couple of weeks’ time.
Comments on RugbyPass
His decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
2 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seem like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
2 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
3 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
3 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
7 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
7 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
4 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
4 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
7 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
7 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
200 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
200 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
200 Go to comments