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Why England World Cup victory could be disastrous for the Wallabies

Eddie Jones. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

A World Cup triumph with England would only motivate Eddie Jones to see out his contract and “build a dynasty” rather than return as Wallabies coach, according to Tim Horan.

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Jones’ side will meet South Africa in the final on Saturday, having engineered Australia’s demise in the quarter-finals before a dominant win over New Zealand in the semi-finals.

That run has led to widespread cries for Rugby Australia (RA) to prioritise Jones’ return to replace Michael Cheika as Wallabies coach.

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It is understood RA have contacted Jones to gauge his interest, with the Australian currently contracted to England until 2021.

Horan said, contracted or not, a win on Saturday would give the in-demand coach plenty of reason to remain in Europe.

“I think Australian rugby will look elsewhere,” the Wallabies’ two-time World Cup winner told Fox Sports.

“They definitely will ask Eddie Jones the question, ‘do you want to come back at some stage to Australia and can you break your contract?’

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“But you’d expect if you win this World Cup you go back to England and Eddie Jones will build this dynasty of this England team.”

New Zealander David Rennie was initially tipped to succeed Cheika, while RA are yet to announce the finer details of a review following the side’s quarter-final exit.

Jones’s least successful stint as an international coach came with the Wallabies, where he had a 58 per cent success rate, winning 33 of 57 games.

That tenure included taking the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final, he was sacked after a run of losses in 2005 and has since won a World Cup with South Africa as an assistant to Jake White.

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Jones also enjoyed a 73 per cent win rate as Japan’s head coach, including an upset victory over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.

As England coach he has only lost nine of 49 Tests at a win rate of 80 per cent, with Horan pointing to the side’s relative youth as a decisive carrot.

“They’re still fairly young. (Maro) Itoje is in his early 20s (25), (captain) Owen Farrell about 27 (28). They’ve got a team that can potentially go on to the next World Cup,” he said.

AAP

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Jon 8 hours ago
The case for keeping the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby Pacific

I have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.

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