Eddie Jones less than impressed with Japan - Ruck

Eddie Jones less than impressed with Japan

  • Current England head coach critical of Japan since he left following the Rugby World Cup
  • The Brave Blossoms go into their first test since the tournament with an interim coach
  • Japan will host the next Rugby World Cup 2019
England head coach Eddie Jones has been critical of the manner in which Japan have acted following their Rugby World Cup heroics.

“What other team, what serious team in the world has in June, only three years to the World Cup, an interim coach coaching the team? Crazy, isn’t it?” he said in a recent interview with Kyodo News in London.



“A national team job is the most prestigious job, so if you want Jamie Joseph to coach the national team, you say right (now). It’s like what England did with me, I signed a contract with the Stormers for three years, England wanted me to coach their national team, they weren’t going to wait a year for me to come. They said here’s the money, we pay out your contract, you come and coach England. And Japan should be doing the same for Jamie.”

While Jones was frustrated with the succession process, he had nothing but praise for Joseph.

“Look, he’s a good coach, Jamie. I think he needs to change (the tactics), you need to change, but I think he’ll do a very good job. He understands Japanese rugby, he played at Sanix, so he’s got a good understanding. He’ll understand how to manage the Japanese players, so I think he’ll be good.”



Jones, however, did have some advice for the Kiwi regarding the physical state of the players, who last year shocked the world by winning three games at the Rugby World Cup.

“How did we change Japanese rugby history? It wasn’t by sitting around drinking cups of green tea and eating nice okaki (rice crackers). It’s training hard, and the players improved enormously. And now they’re having a great time, you see photos of them in South Africa having big steaks, drinking beers, looking at rhinoceros, they’re having the time of their lives, but they can’t play rugby.

“They have to get back their work ethic. They have to understand, for Japan to be strong at rugby, you’ve always got a physical disadvantage. So the only way you overcome a physical disadvantage is to be fitter, to get better organized and to be better disciplined. Then you’ve got a chance at winning.”