Eddie Jones says that selection leaks are damaging to the Wallabies and is looking to plug any holes that may be coming out of the set-up.
Since he took over on January 29, stories have already emerged in the Australian media about the head coach’s plans during this important year.
They have contained details of which players Jones likes, who he is considering calling up and which individuals have not quite hit the mark so far.
Those leaks were something he sought to rectify when he was England’s boss, and the 63-year-old is in the process of doing the same while in charge of the Wallabies.
Trust pieces
“One thing you always do when you go into organisations is test the confidentiality of the organisation because selection is such a crucial thing. People want to know selection, and it’s one of the most important trust pieces between the team and the administration,” he said on his podcast, EDDIE.
“At the moment, we’re probably not doing so well, but hopefully we can fix that.
“We had the same situation in England. If you remember that 2015 World Cup game (under Stuart Lancaster against Wales) where George Ford was dropped, Owen Farrell went to 10, and it was in the papers on Tuesday before the team had been announced.
“That kills the spirit of the team, kills the trust of the team. At the moment, we’ve got a bit of that in Rugby Australia, but we’ll sort that out over the next period of time.”
Jones was also concerned about some of the attendances, especially at the Melbourne Rebels, where their 40-34 victory over the Reds last weekend was watched by a sparse crowd.
“The disappointing thing is the crowd, you can’t get away from that,” he said. “When you’ve got 3,000 people there watching a quality game of rugby like that, you’ve got to think, ‘what have we got to do to get more people down to watch the Rebels?’
“It deserved a bigger crowd than that. We used to get 3,000 people down to watch Randwick play against a top side, and we got paid nothing. The mathematics of professional rugby doesn’t work when you get that number of people. It’s something we need to address in Australian rugby.”
The former England head coach concedes that the sport in the country needs to improve a number of aspects, and that includes the Western Force.
Jones said: “They have so many players that are ineligible for Australia, and it’s something that needs to be looked at. What value can the Force bring to Australian rugby?
“Certainly, Western Australia is a potential growth area for rugby, and can we bring more young players through? Or can we transport players to become Force players where we have a team full of Australian-qualified players? Rather than it being the opposite at the moment.”
Joseph Suaalii deal
The Wallabies’ head coach also had his say over the transfer of Joseph Suaalii, who has signed a reported $1.6m with Rugby Australia.
Jones praised the RA chairman Hamish McLennan for his part in making it happen, although the excitement was tempered somewhat by the fact that he won’t be playing rugby union until 2025.
“You’ve got to admire the boldness of Hamish McLennan; he’s trying to get rugby back on the front foot with the other winter sports,” he said.
“From a national coach point of view, it’s a positive, but as far as I’m concerned, the only thing I’m worried about is picking a team, firstly for the April camp and then the first Test against South Africa.
“Joseph is not available until 2025, and someone else might be sitting in the chair by then.”
Suaalii’s move has caused uproar in Australian rugby league, with rugby union then hitting back, and Jones is enjoying the back-and-forth between the two sports.
“Whenever a player jumps from one to the other, it’s really big news. In Australia, we do have this fight between rugby union and rugby league,” he added.
“Remember in the old days when a rugby union player joined rugby league; they weren’t even allowed to come into the games to watch. There’s still a bit of that going on, the old rugby league versus rugby union.
“I think it’s fantastic, and it’s good to have that because it is a competition, but we’re competing on essentially different platforms.”
READ MORE: League to union code switch: The best, worst and still too soon to tell
The article Wallabies: Eddie Jones looking to weed out Rugby Australia moles appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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