Alan Jones has criticized Wallabies coach Eddie Jones in the run-up to the World Cup, stating that Australia has regressed since he took power in January – and that he is repeatedly creating a toxic sporting environment.
Jones, who coached the Wallabies and won a prestigious Grand Slam in 1984 after beating England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, believes the current boss is living on borrowed time.
He pointed to Jones’ recent test record of just one win from fourteen matches while in charge of Australia for two stints.
Jones also won just four of his last thirteen Tests while at the helm for England.
“The attack coach (Brad Davis) walked away on the eve of the team’s departure to France and the defense coach has never coached a rugby club before,” Jones wrote in a blistering column for Code sports.
Alan Jones has criticized Wallabies coach Eddie Jones in the run-up to the World Cup, stating Australia has regressed since he took charge in January
Alan Jones coached the Wallabies in the 1980s and won the prestigious Grand Slam in 1984
Alan Jones doesn’t believe Eddie Jones is the ‘messiah’ that Australian rugby desperately craves
“I understand the maul coach is a former scrum half. (And) the lineout coach is a former scrum coach.”
Jones accused the Wallabies boss of creating a terrible environment when he took charge of the Queensland Reds after being sacked as coach of the national team in 2005.
“It got so toxic in the dressing room that the players rioted; and in the last game of the season, in 2007, Queensland’s Eddie Jones side was destroyed 92-3 by the Bulls in South Africa,” he wrote.
Alan Jones also berated Eddie after he ‘worked through 18 coaches and 112 players’ while in charge of England, accusing him of hiring too many assistants in his current spell with the Wallabies, including a ‘learning coach’.
“What are all these people doing?” Jones wrote before asking what else Eddie had to do with such a large team of assistants around him.
“The excuses just keep coming,” he continued, explaining that one of the justifications for the Wallabies’ poor form – the young age of the team – is “nonsense” because “if you’re good enough, age doesn’t matter role’.
In another savage column published by The Express Earlier this year, Jones pointed to respected Australian rugby identities such as Roger Gould and Andrew Blades who resigned when Jones was in charge.
Both men felt disrespected – and Jones’ former assistant coach Ewan McKenzie ended up in a mental health unit during the 2003 World Cup campaign after being pushed to the brink.
Jones wasn’t done yet, stating that the Wallabies coach “clearly displays character traits that psychologists would compare to someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).”
As Jones points out, people with ASPD tend to be “controlling, aggressive, and show no guilt or remorse for their destructive behavior.”
They are often labeled as “sociopaths” or even “psychopaths.”
Eddie Jones is confident the Wallabies are heading in the right direction ahead of the World Cup – despite losing the past five Tests (pictured, Australia in action against France on August 27)
Veteran open-side flanker Michael Hooper was a shocking omission after Eddie Jones named his final World Cup squad last month
Former England captain Dylan Hartley said he felt like a ‘piece of meat past its sell-by date’ when coached by Jones, whose ferocious nature could prove to be his ultimate downfall.
In the run-up to the World Cup in France, Jones has been fiercely protective of his players.
He was aggressive towards journalists at Sydney Airport last month when asked why the likes of Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper made glaring omissions from his latest squad.
Jones told reporters to “uppercute themselves” and that the media was “negative about everything.”
The Wallabies are 0-5 under Jones after he took over from Dave Rennie in January.
Australia also dropped to ninth in the world rankings, as well as their worst ever, ahead of their World Cup opener against Georgia on September 10 (AEST).
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