By David Williams
Eddie Jones has insisted he wanted to continue as head coach of Australia as he gets ready to take charge of the Barbarians against Wales in Cardiff this weekend.
The former Wallabies coach says he has not had a job offer from Japan after his resignation was confirmed.
Jones will have his first short-term gig as an ex-international coach on Saturday when he oversees a Baa Baas squad that will include a number of his former Wallabies stars, as well as some he snubbed for the World Cup such as Michael Hoper.
Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said they had reached a “sensible” agreement with the former England coach as his nine months in the job came to an end.
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Speaking to Channel 9 in Australia, Jones said he “never” had a job offer from Japan and criticised media reports of an interview ahead of a World Cup campaign which saw Australia crash out in the group stages.
“I’ve got no job to go to, no job offer,” he said. “My commitment to Australian rugby has been 100 per cent. I did want to go on. Coaching a team is a bit like being in a marriage, you need commitment from both sides.
“I was committed to change the team. Rugby Australia at the moment cannot activate the changes, financial and political, to make real change in Australian rugby.”
Just a quick reference to good old UK. How the ******* hell can Wales be playing the Barbarians next week. Are WRU ever going to allow club players time with their clubs. Meaningless twaddle at Cardiff
— Stephen Jones (@stephenjones9) October 27, 2023
He continued: “I don’t like to be in projects where I don’t think they can really get to where they need to get to and I’ve made that decision.
“Rugby Australia probably doesn’t think that and that’s where the unity of our project is not in the place it needs to be.
“Sometimes you go in the bank and blow it up but you don’t come out with the money.”
Former Wallabies flanker Waugh said he “took Eddie on his word” when he denied reports linking him with Japan.
Talking to a press conference in Sydney, Waugh said: “Our focus will be reconnecting with the Australian public rather than where Eddie’s going to be.
“We’ve come to a sensible conclusion, both for Eddie and for Rugby Australia.
“I don’t think it changes the position we’re at now, whether Eddie was to stay or go. This is hopefully a low point and a chance to reset. The most important thing is to unite.”
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Rugby Australia accepted the resignation of Jones just 10 months into a five-year contract after the Wallabies’ pool-stage World Cup exit.
The former England head coach returned for a second spell in charge of his home nation in January this year, replacing Dave Rennie, and signed an A$4.5m (£2.35m) deal with Rugby Australia.
However, a winless Rugby Championship campaign followed by going out of this year’s World Cup in the pool stage for the first time and suffering a shock defeat to Fiji in the process has led to Jones departing the position, confirmed for November 25.
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“Rugby Australia can confirm that it has accepted the resignation of Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones, and he will depart the position on 25 November 2023,” a statement from the governing body read.
“Rugby Australia thanks Eddie for his commitment to the Wallabies in 2023, and wishes him the best in his future endeavours.
“Announcements regarding the future of the Wallabies coaching staff will be made in due course.”
Jones has consistently denied reports which emerged during the tournament in France over him speaking to the Japan Rugby Football Union prior to the World Cup about returning to coach the Brave Blossoms, with the 63-year-old insisting he was committed to the Australia job.
Jones, whose mother and wife are Japanese, has been linked with the Japan head coach job since Australian media reported he had interviewed for it a couple of days before the Wallabies’ final World Cup warm-up.
However, Jones still hopes to coach “one more international team, one more cycle” in the future, but says he does not currently have a job to go to.
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