Eddie Jones anointed Wallabies messiah

The return of Eddie Jones to the Australia Men’s Rugby Union head coach position marks the beginning of a new era for the Wallabies.

It is clear that the bigwigs at Rugby Australia are pinning their hopes on Jones to mastermind a top-down reshuffle of the game.

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While Australia are almost always competitive in matches against their biggest rivals, South Africa and New Zealand, they now find themselves well outside the top four nations in the world.

Rugby Australia chairperson Hamish McLennan and Eddie Jones had phone discussions this weekend, a report said on Sunday. Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

The Wallabies are accustomed to their struggles, some generated by the competitive nature of the Australian local sport scene, others by poor leadership and bad policies, but recent seasons have seen them dip to new and unacceptable lows.

While the Wallabies player pool isn’t as deep as some of the top nations, they have a few special talents and Rugby Australia believe tha Eddie Jones can get them in shape for the 2023 RWC in France.

“Eddie and I believe we can win the World Cup this year. That’s a lot to do but we really believe we have got a fair shake,” chairman Hamish McLennan said.

“I think it is a whole-of-game reset that Eddie will lead,” he said, foreseeing changes in players’ strength and conditioning, coaching and “ultimately the game plan”.

RA have no concerns that Jones might have lost his way while coaching England and believe his record at World Cup’s speaks for itself.

“I think in life quite often you mature with age and I think he’s a better coach than 20 years ago,” McLennan added.

“He performs well at World Cups – that is really critical for us. And then we have the home World Cup in 27,” he said.

“Eddie is very enthused by the opportunity and as you would know, Eddie is a worker, and so he will make it all work,” said McLennan.