Leading body language expert Darren Stanton has analysed Australia Head Coach Eddie Jones’ responses, regarding whether or not he had been in talks with Japanese Rugby. There is a lot of speculation regarding Jones’ future with the Wallabies, with the matter addressed directly to the 63-year-old after the defeat to Wales last weekend in the Rugby World Cup.
The post match media session got rather heated, with Jones unhappy with the questions regarding his future with the Wallabies. Jones is rumoured to have had an interview with the JRFU, for a possible return to a coaching role with the Brave Blossoms. Jones was the Head Coach of Japan from 2012 to 2015, and oversaw the immortalised ‘Brighton Miracle’ victory, over South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Jones repeatedly said “I don’t know what you’re talking about mate”, when grilled by the reporters about a potential future in Japan.
One journalist asked, “Can you give Wallabies fans your absolute 100% commitment that you will not be coach of Japan next year” to which Jones replied; “I am committed to coach Australia.”
The journalist followed up with the added specification of “next year?”, with Jones repeating the answer “I am committed to coach Australia. That’s all I can say.” The reporter retorted by saying “That doesn’t sound very definitive.”
Speaking to Genting Casino, leading body language expert Darren Stanton says he believes Jones did hold talks with Japan, and that Australia captain Dave Porecki feels this has disrupted their World Cup campaign.
“It appears to me that Eddie Jones is not being honest in his press conference and I do believe that he has had an interview with Japan.” Stanton said.
“There’s a hesitancy when he’s first asked the question about Japan, he takes a small half-breath and then his blink rate goes bizarre. A blink rate is linked to a shift in emotion and we change our emotions significantly when we lie. This tells me that he has had an interview with Japan.”
Jones’ second stint as Head Coach of Japan has gotten off to a difficult start. A winless Rugby Championship campaign saw him caught up in the media storm. Jones voiced his pre-match frustrations of South Africa putting out a “half-baked” side, and stormed out of the post-match media after jibing questions following the Wallabies 43-12 defeat.
Jones entered the Rugby World Cup without a win in four games, and after defeats to Wales and Fiji, the Wallabies hopes of quarter-final progressions are almost zero. Australia need to secure a five point (bonus point) win over Portugal, and hope that Fiji somehow don’t accrue five total points against Georgia and Portugal.
With just one win in seven matches, Jones could well be on his way out the door with the Wallabies. Stanton continued to analyse the Head Coach’s body language.
“His eyebrows are up and his eyes are wide, which is a sign of fear. He’s afraid he’s been rumbled and that his deception has not been bought. He shakes his head when he answers in the affirmative, which is contradictory and the language he uses is ‘lying by admission’, which means he’s skirting over it and essentially saying ‘no comment’.
“There’s about three or four red flags throughout his answers. If he hadn’t had engaged in an interview with Japan, then it would be like an instant ‘no, I haven’t’, or something clear like that, but he’s very deflective and resorts to ‘parroting’. ‘Parroting’ is where you repeat a series of short statements or you mirror language used by an interrogator as you don’t have the time to think of a plausible response so you resort to this kind of language in an attempt to hide the truth.” Stanton said.
Stanton then continued to discuss Dave Porecki’s body language, and believes that the reports on Jones’ future have unsettled the Wallabies squad.
Stanton said; “When Dave Porecki has his say on Australia’s performance, he says ‘it’s got nothing to do with the outside noise, it’s just got to do with our performance and we just weren’t good enough’. When he says ‘it’s got nothing to do with the outside noise’, he bites his lip a lot which tells me he’s lying because we bite our lip when we feel guilty about telling a lie and he knows that he and his coach are not telling the truth.
“He knows that the morale is really bad, at an all time low, and that is perhaps because Jones is looking to jump ship.”