If rumours are true, Eddie Jones will soon be back in charge of the Japanese national team. Such a move will prove controversial and cause anger and bitterness in some parts, but this is Eddie, it has always been thus.
To describe Jones as a Marmite figure would be inaccurate. He divides opinion between those who hate him and those who love him, but with a long list of caveats. He is not the sort of character who provokes unconditional love.
If you are in the former camp, you might as well not bother to read the rest of this piece as it will not alter your view, although I doubt you approached it in an open frame of mind once you realised its subject. That is what Eddie tends to do to people. If you are prepared to at least consider both sides of the argument – read on.
So, why would Japan look to return to Jones when his last two appointments, with England and Australia, have ended in rancour and failure?
First let us look at the contractual situation. Jones signed a five-year contract to coach Australia less than a year before the recent World Cup, in which they failed to get out of their pool for the first time. Jones resigned after the debacle, but the truth is that the press and public clamour for his sacking would have led to a parting of ways however it came about. Therefore, the allegations of disloyalty must be seen in that light. You cannot demand that someone be sacked and then get annoyed when he looks elsewhere.
You would have a case if Jones had negotiated a move whilst still in situ, something alleged but strongly denied. However, in today’s cut-throat world of sporting contracts they are, as Hamlet said, more honoured in the breach than the observance. Sporting loyalty lasts only as long neither party becomes disillusioned.
Eddie Jones resigned as Wallabies coach after failed they to get out of their World Cup pool for the first time in France.Credit: Getty
There are not many coaches around and, importantly, available who can match Jones’s record. The number of successful World Cup coaches is very small and could they be persuaded to move to Japan anyway? Consider this: neither Andy Farrell nor Shaun Edwards – who, according to many, including me, would be England’s dream coaching team – have ever reached a World Cup final.
Despite recent travails, this is Jones’s coaching record. He was technical adviser to South Africa when they won the 2007 World Cup. He led Australia and England to World Cup finals in 2003 and 2019 respectively. His England side equalled the “tier-one” record of 18 successive Test wins. He won a Six Nations Grand Slam with England (2016), the Tri-Nations with Australia (2001) and the Super Rugby title with the Brumbies (2001).
Eddie Jones previously coached Japan between 2012 and 2015.Credit: Getty
With Japan, he was in charge when they beat the Springboks in the “Miracle of Brighton”, one of rugby’s greatest-ever upsets, at the 2015 World Cup. Before that, he led them to a drawn series with Wales in 2013. A year later Japan went on to a 10-game winning streak, which is a record for a “tier-two” team. Under Jones, Japan broke into the top 10 of rugby’s world rankings for the first time.
Jones also has a Japanese wife, speaks Japanese and has had sustained stints in both Japanese university, club and international rugby. Those who have worked or lived in Japan will concur with the fact that it is a very different environment to Europe or the Antipodes. The national characteristics of reserve, punctuality and hard work are those identified by the Japanese themselves, and they juxtapose well with Jones’s abrasive style.
Jones was never universally liked by the Japanese squad, even when they were at their most successful, but they respected him. This is not a modern British attitude, where ‘losing the dressing room’ is a euphemism for not trying when you fall out with a manager in the expectation that he will get sacked before you do.
It is Jones’s public persona, more so than with nearly all of his contemporaries, that colours opinions on his coaching, particularly with those who have never met him or worked with him. His refusal to be media compliant, in today’s world of media-trained monkeys, is unpopular, but even his media critics reluctantly admit that it makes good copy. I couldn’t care less whether he is rude or not; what I see on the field is all I care about.
This final point is the one by which he should be judged. I agree with David Campese and Kyran Bracken, both of whom told me about the ‘Good Eddie’ and ‘Bad Eddie’ whose personality and methods have about a four-year lifespan, after which his attrition rate becomes too much. He lost his way with England when he failed to reform, selections became erratic and his message confused.
You should not be blind to his drawbacks or failures, but should weigh these against his strengths and his record. What will the Japanese get? Who knows; but it won’t be boring.
The Telegraph, London
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Those angry about Eddie’s potential Japan return are being unfair
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14.11.2023
If rumours are true, Eddie Jones will soon be back in charge of the Japanese national team. Such a move will prove controversial and cause anger and bitterness in some parts, but this is Eddie, it has always been thus.
To describe Jones as a Marmite figure would be inaccurate. He divides opinion between those who hate him and those who love him, but with a long list of caveats. He is not the sort of character who provokes unconditional love.
If you are in the former camp, you might as well not bother to read the rest of this piece as it will not alter your view, although I doubt you approached it in an open frame of mind once you realised its subject. That is what Eddie tends to do to people. If you are prepared to at least consider both sides of the argument – read on.
So, why would Japan look to return to Jones when his last two appointments, with England and Australia, have ended in rancour and failure?
First let us look at the contractual situation. Jones signed a five-year contract to coach Australia less than a year before the recent World Cup, in which they failed to get out of their pool for the first time. Jones resigned after the debacle, but the truth is that the press and public clamour for his sacking would have led to a parting of ways however it came........
© The Age
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