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With England set to face Japan at France 2023, the RFU have made a decision on Eddie Jones' Suntory consultancy

By AAP
(Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has been cleared to continue as a consultant for Japanese Top League side Suntory Sungoliath after the Rugby Football Union said there is no conflict of interest despite England and Japan being drawn in the same 2023 World Cup pool.

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“Eddie has had a consultancy agreement with Suntory for over 20 years,” an RFU spokesperson said. “We have been aware and comfortable with that since he joined the RFU.

“He provides consultancy in his holidays and this role is in no way a conflict with his England team priorities.”

Video Spacer

England boss Eddie Jones reacts to the 2023 World Cup draw

Video Spacer

England boss Eddie Jones reacts to the 2023 World Cup draw

Jones, who is currently in Japan just over a week after the extra-time Autumn Nations Cup final win by England over France at Twickenham, previously coached Suntory in 1997 and again between 2009 and 2012, leading them to the Top League final in 2012 before being appointed coach of the Japan national team the same year.

The Australian was in charge of Japan at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where he masterminded the Brave Blossoms’ stunning upset of South Africa during the group stages.

Runners-up at the 2019 finals played in Japan, England were placed in Pool D alongside Argentina and Japan in Monday’s draw for the World Cup in France. “Japan are the most improved team in the game,” Jones said after the draw. 

“It’s going to be tough as we don’t get many chances to play against teams like Japan so we are going to have to be really well prepared.”

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Flankly 4 hours ago
The AI advantage: How the next two Rugby World Cups will be won

If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.

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