Japan head coach Eddie Jones has taken a rather dim view of World Rugby\u2019s decision to play their Nations Championship encounter against Ireland in Australia.<\/p>\n
It was recently announced that the Brave Blossoms would be facing Andy Farrell\u2019s men in Newcastle, a city in New South Wales.<\/p>\n
The upcoming tournament, which is taking place for the first time, sees the best teams from the two hemispheres collide with the Six Nations outfits in one group and the Rugby Championship nations, plus Fiji and Japan, in the other pool, despite the latter being situated in the north.<\/p>\n
Akin to previous mid-year Tests<\/a>, the European countries go on their travels in the July window with the Irish facing the Wallabies, Japan<\/a> and All Blacks.<\/p>\n However, instead of flying to Asia, Ireland will be allowed to face the Brave Blossoms in Australia before heading to New Zealand.<\/p>\n Long flight for \u2018home\u2019 Test<\/p>\n That means the Japanese must travel 10 hours for one of their \u2018home\u2019 game before returning to Tokyo for their third encounter of the month against France.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know why we\u2019re playing Ireland in Newcastle, right? Ireland have all the power at World Rugby, so we have to play our home game, which should be in Tokyo, in Australia to make sure Ireland<\/a> don\u2019t have to travel too much,\u201d a distinctly unimpressed Jones<\/a> said on the Rugby Unity podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s be frank about this.\u201d<\/p>\n Host of the show, David Pembroke, then looked for more clarity, asking Jones: \u201cSo Ireland said: \u2018we\u2019re not going to Tokyo\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n Jones duly responded: \u201cWe just have to suck it up and that\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re not a major political power at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n Pembroke pressed further, wondering how much say Japan had over the decision to move the contest to Newcastle.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how they took place,\u201d Jones stated. \u201cIreland say: \u2018We\u2019re not going from New Zealand to Japan and then back to Australia, we\u2019re not doing that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJapan, you want to be in the Nations Cup? Yes, of course we do, but you\u2019ve got to use one of your home games to play in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s simple mate, it\u2019s not complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n