Japan coach Eddie Jones has expressed enjoyment at the prospect of beating the Wallabies and said the mass changes made by rival coach Joe Schmidt for their clash in Tokyo provide an opportunity for the Brave Blossoms to pull off an upset.
Jones’ comments came after he named four Australians in his 23-man squad to play the Wallabies at the National Stadium on Saturday: Ben Gunther, Dylan Riley, Jack Cornelsen will all start, and Sam Greene was selected on the bench.
Former Reds lock Harry Hockings recently joined the Japan squad, too, but the giant forward is not eligible to make his Test debut until next month.
The spring tour opener will be the Wallabies’ first game in Tokyo, and the first encounter with Jones since he returned for a calamitous second stint with the national team in 2023. In the first year of a five-year contract with RA, Jones conducted a Zoom interview about Japan’s head coach vacancy ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and after resigning from the Wallabies post-tournament, re-joined Japan 45 days later.
The Wallabies are favourites to beat world No.13 Japan, but Jones is eyeing an upset after Schmidt elected to rest several stars and made 13 changes to his starting side.
The Japan coach has a strong record coaching against the Wallabies, after a long run of success when in charge of England between 2016 and 2022.
Eddie Jones will meet Australia for the first time with Japan.Credit: CameraSport via Getty Images
“I enjoy beating Australia – I coached against them 10 times for England and beat them nine times,” Jones told a press conference after naming his side.
“Playing against your own country, there’s always a certain amount of different feeling involved in it, but it just brings out the extreme competitive spirit within yourself.”
The Wallabies’ changes presented a “winning opportunity”, said Jones.
“When you’re playing a team that has got a lot of players that are playing for a spot, and they want to be the starting guys, if things don’t go their way at the start of the game, they can get frustrated,” Jones said.
Schmidt conceded there was risk in rolling out a changed side against Japan, and not just because losing to Jones’ and Japan would be a humbling backward step after a year of growth and occasional success.
The Wallabies will also drop to eighth in the world rankings if they lose, and the world rankings are all-important in the next five weeks, given the 2027 Rugby World Cup seedings will be finalised at the end of the year.
The Wallabies must finish in the top six to be a top seed in one of the six pools; a status that will likely help the team go further in the tournament. They currently sit seventh.
with AFP
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