Eddie Jones looks set to return to Japanese rugby. Photo: Getty Images/Odd Andersen
If the rumors are true, Eddie Jones will return to Japanese rugby. I will soon lead the Japanese national team again. The move would prove controversial and leave some people angry and bitter, but it's Eddie, it always has been.
Describing 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's not the type of character to inspire unconditional love.
If you're in the first camp, you might as well not read the rest of this article because it won't change your mind, although I doubt it will. that you approached it openly as soon as you understood its subject. This is what Eddie usually does to people. If you are ready to at least consider both sides of the dispute, read on.
So why would Japan want to return to Jones if his last two assignments, with England and Australia, ended in rancor and failure?
First let's look at the contractual situation. Jones signed a five-year deal to coach Australia less than a year before the recent World Cup, where they failed to qualify from their group for the first time. Jones resigned after the fiasco, but the truth is that the press and public demanded he be fired no matter how it happened. Therefore, accusations of disloyalty should be viewed in this light. You can't demand someone be fired and then get annoyed when they look elsewhere.
Jones was a man led Japan during the 2015 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Reuters/Darren Staples
You would have a case where Jones had arranged the move while on site, something alleged but categorically denied. However, in today's cut-throat world of sports contracts, as Hamlet said, they are more honorable in violation than in compliance. Sports loyalty lasts only as long as neither side is disappointed.
There aren't many coaches around, and importantly available, who can match Jones' record. The number of successful World Cup coaches is very small, and can they even be convinced to move to Japan? Consider this: neither Andy Farrell nor Shaun Edwards, who many, including myself, would have thought would be England's manager's dream team, have ever reached a World Cup final.
Despite recent struggles, that's Jones' coaching track record. He was South Africa's technical advisor when they won the 2007 World Cup. He led Australia and England to the World Cup finals in 2003 and 2019 respectively. His England team set a first-tier record of 18 consecutive Test wins. He won the Six Nations Grand Slam with England (2016), the Tri Nations with Australia (2001) and the Super Rugby title with the Brumbies (2001).
In Japan he was in charge when they beat the Springboks in the “Brighton Miracle”, one of the biggest upsets in rugby history, at the 2015 World Cup. He previously led them to a series draw with Wales in 2013. A year later, Japan went on a 10-game winning streak, a record for a “second-tier” team. Under Jones, Japan entered the top 10 of the world rugby rankings for the first time.
Jones also has a Japanese wife, speaks Japanese and has worked in Japanese university, club and international rugby on numerous occasions. Those who have worked or lived in Japan will agree that it is a completely different environment than Europe or the Antipodes. The national characteristics of restraint, punctuality and hard work are those identified by the Japanese themselves, and they fit well with Jones's edgy style.
Jones' The Wallabies' disastrous second period at the helm ended after the country's first group stage exit at the World Cup. Photo: Getty Images/ANN-KRISTINA PUZULA
Jones never liked the Japanese team, even when they were at their most successful, but they respected him. This is not the modern British approach, where “losing the dressing room” is a euphemism for giving up trying to argue with the manager in the expectation that he will be sacked before you.
It is Jones's public persona, more than almost all of his contemporaries, that determines opinions of his coaching career, especially among those who never met or worked with him. His refusal to bow to the demands of the media in today's world of media-trained monkeys is unpopular, but even his media critics are reluctant to admit that it is good publicity. I didn't care if he was rude or not; I only care about what I see on the field.
That's the last point on which he should be judged. I agree with David Campese and Ciarán Bracken, who told me about “Good Eddie” and “Bad Eddie”, whose personality and methods last for about four years before his attrition rate becomes too high. He lost his way in England when he failed to reform, his choices became confused and his message confused.
You must not turn a blind eye to his shortcomings or failures, but must weigh them against his strengths and his achievements. What will the Japanese get? Who knows; but it won't be boring.
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