{"id":845671,"date":"2026-08-06T14:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845671\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T14:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:12:16","slug":"rugby-union-eddie-jones-fires-a-shot-at-the-wallabies-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845671\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby Union: Eddie Jones fires a shot at the Wallabies. Sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Iain<\/p>\n

August 6, 2026 \u2014 9:30pm<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

He came, he zoomed, he logged off.<\/p>\n

So went a brief, and only mildly spicy, pre-game press conference from Eddie Jones on Thursday night, as his Japan side prepares to meet the Wallabies on Saturday in Osaka.<\/p>\n

\"EddieEddie Jones at Japan training.Getty Images<\/p>\n

The anticipation of some verbal fireworks from Jones was only natural. Here is a man who has, over the course of his long career, made an art of dropping a well-placed barb or pressurising critique of a green rival.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, as it unfolded near the end days of his ill-fated 2023 Wallabies return, those barbs were even aimed straight back at the scribes asking the questions, along with instructions to apply some self-inflicted upper cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones departed the Wallabies soon after<\/a> and landed back in Japan. Almost three years on, Australia are in Osaka to meet his Brave Blossoms. It is not the first meeting – Jones\u2019 side lost to the Wallabies<\/a> in Tokyo last year – but with residual tension still in the air, a new Wallabies coach and Japan an ever-improving side, the clash on Saturday still carries just as much meaning.<\/p>\n

And so it came to pass that Jones was sitting at a desk in the Japan team hotel on Thursday night, doing a press conference after naming his side to meet the Wallabies. For reasons not explained, the conference was not in person, but rather conducted on Zoom. A handful of Australian journalists sat dotted amid a group of around 40 Japanese entrants.<\/p>\n

\"JapanJapan coach Eddie Jones looks on during a session.Getty Images<\/p>\n

The fireworks would have to be virtual.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another test match for us to grow and learn and compete against the team in the top eight in the world,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou know, our record against Australia, there\u2019s been seven official Test matches, we don\u2019t have a win yet, so it\u2019s a fantastic opportunity for Japan to create new history.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we saw last year that we were getting closer to Australia, and believe that gap, if there\u2019s a gap now, is going to be minimised again on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, so diplomatic. Jones was asked about the make-up of his team, which surprisingly didn\u2019t contain former Reds big man Harry Hockings in the starting side. Wallabies coach Les Kiss had, just hours earlier, said they\u2019d identified Hockings and captain Warner Dearns<\/a> as the major threats for Japan.<\/p>\n

Jones had moved another Aussie, Jack Cornelsen, into the second row to pick Kanji Shimokawa, a mobile backrower tasked with shutting down Fraser McReight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the best 23 and we\u2019ve got the highest confidence that they can do the job for Japan on the weekend at Osaka,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"EddieEddie Jones resigned as Wallabies coach after failing to make it out of the World Cup group stage in 2023.Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team\u2019s prepared really well. I think we probably had one of our best preparation periods, and we feel like we\u2019re ready to go after Australia. You know, there\u2019s a lot of pressure on Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here we go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got a very experienced team,\u201d Jones continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a game that they\u2019d be expected to win. So we want to make sure we\u2019re putting pressure on them right from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Kiss, Jones was the last Australian coach to take over mid-season, when he replaced Rod Macqueen in 2001. Did he sense that handover could provide the cracks required for Japan to get that win over Australia?<\/p>\n

\u201cLes and Joe have had a pretty close relationship going back to when Les was in Ireland, so their thinking would be the same,\u201d Jones said. \u201d<\/p>\n

\"EddieEddie Jones talks to Les Kiss in 2019 when the pair were coaching in England.nna\\sworthington<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be little nuances they change, but I think it\u2019ll be a reasonably easy transition given also that Les coached the Reds and a number of the players he selected have come from the Reds team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see that being a fairly seamless transition. Look, we\u2019re more interested in ourselves than Australia. You know, we believe it\u2019s a team that can beat Australia. And Australia\u2019s got a very experienced team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at a number of those players, they were young players back in the 2023 World Cup, now they have 50 or 60 caps next to their name.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they\u2019re coming into their prime stage of their careers. So we\u2019re going to have to be at our best, and we\u2019re prepared to be at our best, so we\u2019re really looking forward to getting the chance to make history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just seven players in the Wallabies 23-man squad were at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and the trio who now have more than 50 caps – Tate McDermott, Rob Valetini and Taniela Tupou – were 24, 25 and 27 in 2023.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Brothers<\/a><\/p>\n

But never mind that. Back to the fireworks.<\/p>\n

Jones was asked if the heatwave conditions in Japan at the moment could be to his side\u2019s advantage over the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ve never gone to France at Stade de France and they put on the heaters for you, have you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

No Eddie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Test match rugby, you know? You go home and away, and you play in the conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then – 18 minutes into a 30-minute press conference – thanks were offered and the screen went blank. Jones had gone, the Zoom was over and those fireworks had failed to truly pop or crackle.<\/p>\n

Oh well. There is always game day.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"IainIain Payten<\/a> is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 6, 2026 \u2014 9:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-845671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}