Eddie Jones: “Simple to get right” WRU cuts, Rugby Championship & Japan v Springboks Rematch

Former England boss Eddie Jones boss on Welsh Rugby Cuts, the tightest Rugby Championship yet and Japan's famous win over South Africa ten years on

Right now though, few debates are louder than the future of Welsh rugby. Wales ended their 18-game losing streak against Eddie’s Japan this summer, with the test series finishing 1-1.

The WRU are exploring the possibility of cutting the four professional regions down to two - a move that would rip through tradition, but, according to Jones, could actually be “simple to get right.”

“If you want to be sustainably successful, you’ve got to get your talent pathway right,” Jones says. “Maybe agglomeration of the talent helps. Ireland, Scotland, Italy, they’ve all benefited from fewer teams, having their best players together consistently. That feeds straight into the national side.

“There’s a lot of clues there. But then you’ve got to respect the domestic rivalries in Wales, those battles are intense, mate. They don’t particularly like each other. You’ve got to take that into account. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is; what’s the best thing for talent to come through?”

From Europe’s struggles to the southern hemisphere’s heavyweights, Jones is also tracking a Rugby Championship that feels tighter than ever.

“Nearly everyone’s gone win-loss,” he says. “It’s probably the closest we’ve seen. South Africa impressed against New Zealand, but that was built off the aerial contest. They won nine of the first ten in the air and then played from there.

“Australia have definitely improved, Argentina swing the ball around and are hard to defend when they get it right. But South Africa are favourites. They’ve got a good record against Argentina, and then they finish in London, where they love playing. They get big support there.”

During a largely reflective interview, we moved onto the game that defined Eddie Jones’ coaching career - Japan’s stunning 34–32 win over South Africa in Brighton. A decade later, he still feels its impact across world rugby.

“It was a significant game, mate. The first time Japan really won respect around the world. It changed the way people saw them and gave them the opportunity to play at the highest level.”

But he also believes it jolted South Africa into rediscovering their identity. “I’m not saying we were the reason for it,” he says, “but it certainly lit a fuse underneath South African rugby. They maybe had to do things differently. You look at 2016, 2017 – not good years. Then Rassie came in, went back to their DNA of kick, chase, tackle, scrum, maul – and they’ve since won two World Cups.”

Only Eddie Jones could claim responsibility for sparking South Africa’s greatest ever era with a Japanese upset. But in his eyes, that’s the beauty of it, the night the Brave Blossoms shocked the world, the Springboks remembered who they were.

“Knowing who you are as a team, what your country values, that’s the power. That’s why they’ve dominated.”

Ten years on, Jones is still smiling about Brighton, and a decade on from that iconic win we will see a rematch, as international rugby union returns to Wembley Stadium on 1 November with world champions South Africa taking on Eddie’s Japan. Buy tickets here