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Jones set to quit Saracens
Brent Read | February 03, 2009
Article from: The Australian
FORMER Wallabies coach Eddie Jones is poised to resign as mentor of English club Saracens and may take up a role with rugby league club Wigan.
An announcement on Jones's future could come as early as next week.
It is understood Jones was not happy with the direction in which the new South African co-owners of Saracens were taking the club.
The situation at Saracens became less appealing for Jones when the club's Australian chief executive Mark Sinderberry left two months ago.
Sinderberry was chief executive of the Brumbies when Jones coached the ACT team to the Super rugby title in 2001 and the two men had a good working relationship.
Sinderberry's departure has prompted Jones to re-think his future at Saracens, which is in seventh place on the premiership table with a 6-6 win-loss record.
Jones is believed to be looking for work in Europe, but he will not return to Australia.
There is a chance Jones could link up with Wigan, the former club of England and Saracens rugby league convert Andy Farrell.
Jones is a keen student of rugby league and he has incorporated elements of the 13-a-side code in his rugby strategies.
He was also the prime mover in the recruitment of Australian rugby league converts Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri to the Wallabies.
Jones's decision to leave Saracens continues his roller-coaster career in coaching.
During his four years at the Brumbies, Jones earned a reputation as a brilliant and innovative coach. Jones succeeded Rod Macqueen at the Wallabies in 2001 and guided Australia to the final of the 2003 World Cup where the men in gold just fell short against the Jonny Wilkinson-inspired England team.
But Jones's last two years with the Wallabies were not as successful. There were issues with his management style when assistant coaches Andrew Blades and Roger Gould both quit the Wallabies in 2004.
The ARU sacked Jones at the end of 2005 after the Wallabies lost eight of their last nine Tests under his command.
Jones returned to Super rugby in 2007 to coach Queensland, but the Reds finished last on the table with a 2-11 win-loss record, which included a humiliating 92-3 loss to the Bulls in Pretoria in the last round.
Later that year Jones also secured a consultancy with South Africa and was involved in the Springboks' World Cup victory in France.
Jones is in Japan where he has a long-standing consultancy with the Suntory club.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html