Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has refused to ban his players from social media amid a searing backlash after their World Cup loss to Fiji that has left their tournament campaign on the precipice of disaster.
A day after apologizing and taking all the blame for the island’s first defeat in almost seven decades, Jones declared: “These are the weeks you really remember” as his team prepares for a match that must are won against Wales to avoid an early World Cup match. Cup exit.
The Wallabies have been ridiculed, criticized and even castigated in the aftermath of the lame loss, their fifth defeat in six Tests since Jones regained control of the team and vowed to make Australian rugby great again by taking a broom to the side and inject new blood. .
So far his plans have failed badly and Jones admitted he was ‘still looking for answers’ to make the Wallabies the team he hoped they could be.
But he insisted motivation was not an issue ahead of the showdown with Wales, which Australia must win to have any chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
“I woke up this morning hoping the outcome was different, but it was still the same,” Jones said.
‘The only thing we’re worried about is Wales this week. We would love to play them tomorrow if they were willing to play… we can’t wait for the challenge.
‘There is no problem with motivation. This team cares deeply about their performance.”
The Wallabies were devastated after the loss to Fiji (pictured) – but Jones refused to ban them from social media so they couldn’t see the waves of criticism coming their way
The under-fire coach admitted one aspect of Fiji’s play ‘shocked’ his team early in the match
A positive for the Wallabies is a win in the most recent match against Wales in Cardiff last year.
But Jones said having his back against the wall gave his players another opportunity to do something special.
“These are the weeks you remember when you’re really under the pump and need to put in a good performance,” he said.
“This is probably one of the biggest challenges for this team and the coaching staff, but we know how we want to play against Wales.
“We’re going to work very hard to get the players back on track, so to speak, because when you have a loss like that it hits you a little bit, it knocks you emotionally, it knocks the ethics of the team. , you start to see shadows in every corner of the room, there is outside noise that you have to deal with.
The body language of Wallabies prop Angus Bell spoke volumes on Monday but Jones is confident the team will respond when their backs are against the wall for the must-win match with Wales
“And that’s the challenge for the coaching staff this week to make sure they get the right sound.”
Jones said that while the critics came out in force after the Fiji loss, he did not have to tell his players to avoid the outside noise, which would include staying away from social media where the abuse could be the worst.
“That’s an individual choice for each player,” he said.
‘They decide for themselves how they use social media. It’s not our place to tell them how to do it.
‘Everyone makes a choice about how they live their lives. And for the players it is their choice.’
Jones also defended the performance of rookie five-eighth Carter Gordon, who he took off with 30 minutes to go against France despite having no specialist back-up.
Carter Gordon (pictured with the ball against Fiji) was roundly criticized for his poor performance in the defeat – but his coach defended the fly-half despite benching him
“I don’t think there’s a team in the world that doesn’t target the opposition’s 10, so that’s quite a normal practice,” he said.
“I can’t remember a team that hasn’t done that. They are the protagonist, of course the conductor of the team and if you can reach them, you will reach them.
“There are different ways you can care for your 10 and we’ll look at that this week.”
Jones went on to point out the area where Fiji dominated his team: the failures, where their opponents ambushed them with their might.
“We were badly beaten in that area,” he said.
‘We were really good last weekend against Georgia.
“I think at the start of the game we were a bit shocked by the physical intensity of the Fijians and that put us off our game a bit.”
The Wallabies will get halfback Tate McDermott back for the Wales match but will be without injured captain Will Skelton and star prop Taniela Tupou.