Eddie Jones: Hybrid Game, Fatigue and TMO – his plan to reform rugby

Jones may be 65 now, but he has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

He had a brief second spell as Australia’s coach in 2023, which ended after nine matches in as many months and an early World Cup exit.

There was speculation that he spoke to Japan before leaving his position as Wallabies boss, which he has previously denied.

But before the year was out, he was back in charge of the Brave Blossoms for a second stint.

“I wanted to play for Australia or Japan in the World Cup in Australia,” Jones said.

“The first choice was Australia, but because of the circumstances, a lot was out of my control, but the year I had I wasn’t training well.

“I tried to do things very quickly. Then Japan became an option.”

Jones has spoken of his desire to improve rugby globally, but his immediate ambition is to further develop the sport in Japan.

“I’ve been in the coaching business for a long time and I want to make Japan, under the conditions we have, sustainably successful,” he said.

“Those teams in 2015 and 2019, sometimes you get lucky when a group of guys come in at the same time and they help you win.

“But then that doesn’t always happen, and you have to create a system that Ireland has where player development is consistent.

“I’m trying to encourage the Japan Rugby Federation, within the university structure, on how to create a high-performance micro-environment so that kids can achieve success a little faster.”

Jones has a contract until the World Cup and then “we’ll go from there”.

But he says that having given so much to the game over three decades of coaching, his wife Hiroko may have the final say.

“I have no preconception [about how long he will coach for] “Maybe my wife will make the decision this time.”

“But I’m going to the World Cup and we’ll take it from there.

“I love the game and I love coaching. I want to see the game get better. We need to organize the game.”

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