Eddie Jones ready to take more hits, saying he's committed to staying as Australian rugby coach

Eddie Jones ready to take more hits, saying he’s committed to staying as Australian rugby coach

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Australian Rugby’s head coach Eddie Jones, right, prepares to speak to media in Sydney, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Wallabies head coach, Jones, says he is “committed to Australia” amid numerous reports that he is planning to quit and take up the Japan coaching job for a second time. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

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Australian Rugby’s head coach Eddie Jones, right, and Mark McCartney, head of communications for Rugby Australia, stroll on the pitch at Coogee Oval before Jones speaks to media in Sydney, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Wallabies head coach, Jones, says he is “committed to Australia” amid numerous reports that he is planning to quit and take up the Japan coaching job for a second time. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

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Australian Rugby’s head coach Eddie Jones speaks to media in Sydney, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Wallabies head coach, Jones, says he is “committed to Australia” amid numerous reports that he is planning to quit and take up the Japan coaching job for a second time. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

SYDNEY (AP) — Eddie Jones knows the hits will keep coming if he’s retained as head coach following Australia’s worst ever performance at the Rugby World Cup.

He may even give himself an uppercut.

After a tumultuous campaign that started negatively even before the Wallabies left for France, a chastened Jones held a news conference Tuesday to confirm he’s still committed to Australia and to again deny he interviewed for a job in Japan.

In a fiery pre-departure news conference in August, Jones was heavily critical of the domestic media’s coverage of his squad and told news reporters to give themselves an uppercut. It certainly didn’t help his profile during the tournament.

“The only thing I regret is probably telling the press to give themselves an uppercut,” he said Tuesday. “But sometimes you say things in the heat of the moment that you regret.

“I probably need to give myself an uppercut, don’t I? I didn’t like the way that media conference was portrayed, but it was probably not the wisest thing.”

Hoping to draw a line under a speculation about his future, Jones held a news conference at Coogee Oval to confirm he was “100%” committed to the Wallabies and reject speculation of a return to Japan.

FILE - Australian Rugby Union head coach Robbie Deans discusses the selection of the 25-man Wallabies squad to take on the British and Irish Lions in a three-test series starting next month, in Sydney, on May 19, 2013. The final of Japan Rugby League One will be a showdown between coaches who emerged from the same rugby nursery and have taken similar paths to the league showdown. Robbie Deans will coach serial winners Wild Knights while Todd Blackadder will guide Brave Lupus Tokyo in the JRLO final in front of an expected crowd of more than 50,000 at Tokyo’s National Stadium. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

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He is contracted until the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

“I haven’t been speaking to anyone, mate,” he said in response to repeated questions about the Japan coaching position. “I’ve said that before.”

The 63-year-old Jones said he believed he still had the support of Rugby Australia, despite the recent turmoil.

“But we’ve got to do a review. The results were disappointing and everybody is gutted by it — especially myself,” Jones said. “But I stand by the decisions we have made and I think we have left Australian rugby in a better position.”

Jones, who guided Australia to the World Cup final in 2003 in his first stint at Wallabies’ head coach, was hired in January after losing the England job following a run of poor results.

England has qualified for the semifinals in France. Two-time champion Australia didn’t make it to the quarterfinals for the first time in 10 editions of the global tournament and has won two of its nine tests under Jones in 2023.

Jones’ decision to cut experienced veterans in key positions in favor of young or emerging players was heavily criticized. But he said it would benefit the Wallabies in future.

“I love working with young players,” he said. “I loved seeing some of the young players maturing during the World Cup. There are a number of players there who are at the start of their international career.

“Most of them showed during the World Cup that they have enough to really go forward and be very good players for Australia.”

Jones said the development system in Australia needed an overhaul.

“Let’s be serious about this. The Wallabies are not where they need to be, but underneath that, we need to fix the system to go forward,” he said. “If we can do that now, we’ve got a rosy future.”

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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby