Rugby Australia begin discussions with Jones about future role

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...11-p5c5es.html

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan and Eddie Jones were involved in a phone hook-up on Saturday evening, in the clearest indication yet the organisation is keen to find a role in Australian rugby for the dumped England coach.

The Herald reported last week RA was interested in speaking with Jones, following a tumultuous exit from his role as head coach of England after more than six years in charge.

Despite a 73-per-cent career win rate — the highest of any England rugby coach — Jones was sacked by the RFU following a calendar year which yielded five wins from 12 matches.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has been under immense pressure, following a year of five wins from 14 matches, but has been spared the axe, at least for the time being. McLennan and RA chief executive Andy Marinos have said Rennie will coach the Wallabies at the 2023 Rugby World Cup but there have been no guarantees beyond that.

Jones has been flagged as a potential replacement for a stint that could cover a British and Irish Lions tour in 2025 and a home World Cup two years later.

There have been calls, notably from World Cup-winning Wallaby Simon Poidevin, for Jones to come on board as a technical consultant alongside Rennie next year.

The Herald can reveal that McLennan made the first steps toward getting Jones back to Australian rugby. His four-year stint as Wallabies coach ended when he was sacked in 2005, and Jones hasn’t coached in Australia since an ill-fated season with the Queensland Reds in 2007.

McLennan confirmed on Sunday he had made contact with Jones.

“Actually I spoke to him yesterday,” McLennan told the Herald. “It’s all pretty high-level and it’s about really getting a sense of where his head is at given the drama of last week.”

McLennan and Jones were the only two on the phone call, which occurred on Saturday evening Australian time. No formal offers were discussed but RA is keen to welcome Jones home. McLennan declined to comment when asked whether a role in 2023 or 2024 was preferred.

“You’d be crazy not to think how we could use that brain of his but I know Eddie has a lot of offers out there,” McLennan said. “Andy [Marinos] is pretty good mates with him too.”

In an interesting twist, Marinos was involved in hiring Jones to join the Springboks in 2007 as a technical consultant, alongside coach Jake White. The Springboks won the World Cup that year and Marinos was the South African Rugby Union’s manager of national teams at the time.

Speaking for the first time since his axing, Jones told Sun-Herald columnist Danny Weidler he would consider all options, including a role in the NRL.

“As for my next step, well I think everyone knows I love a scrap and I’m up for whatever challenge is next,” Jones said. “I’m open to looking at everything in rugby and I’ve made no secret of my wish to give the NRL a go, too. Nothing is off the table. Nothing. It’s all about the right job at the right time and I’ll look at it all.”

Despite the disappointment of being punted less than a year out from the World Cup in France, Jones was spotted over the weekend coaching a junior rugby club in London.

London’s Telegraph reported that Jones took the time to help an under-11s team at Barnes Rugby Club. Onlookers were shocked when they saw Jones arriving on a cold morning.

“One of the dads at the club was able to get a message to Eddie to see if he fancied coming to coach some 11-year olds after the tough week he had been through,” said Boris Pomroy, a junior rugby coach.

“We were all stunned when he arrived at training this morning. One of the parents said there was a guy who looked like Eddie Jones had arrived and we couldn’t believe he actually turned up.

“He was so unassuming. He just turned up, introduced himself and immediately started chatting with the kids, getting to know their names. Some of the kids were a bit overwhelmed at the start but he was absolutely brilliant with them.”