Wallabies coach Eddie Jones ‘made a shocking admission at a private party’ about how big the gap is in Australian rugby ahead of the World Cup in Paris

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has privately stated that Australia is now a second-tier nation and has turned to religion to find a quick answer ahead of September’s Rugby World Cup.

Even the most seasoned Wallabies supporter would feel a sense of dread entering the cup based on current results.

Born-again coach Jones continues to beat the drum to inspire the Aussie faithful, but losses to South Africa, New Zealand and even Argentina paint a bleak picture.

The truth is that the Wallabies will need a miracle to be of any sort in Paris when the tournament kicks off in September.

And despite expressing his confidence in the team several times at press conferences, Jones reportedly confessed that the sport in Australia is in a deep hole during a private meeting.

After being beaten in Australia’s opening Bledisloe Cup game, the Wallabies will have to defy history to claim a big win in New Zealand to claim overall victory

Jones privately told attendees at a recent meeting that the Wallabies are now a second-tier rugby nation, the Australian Financial Review reported.

That means he believes Australia has fallen out of the group of the best countries in the world: New Zealand, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Argentina and South Africa.

Instead, Australia is fighting for relevance alongside countries such as Japan, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Namibia, Romania, Georgia, Uruguay, Canada, the US, Spain and Portugal.

The publication also reported that Jones – who found God in 2013 after surviving a stroke while coaching in Japan – told the feature he has a picture of Jesus Christ in his office because “the Wallabies need all the help they can get to win’.

His candid admissions run counter to public comments in recent weeks, including comments that the Wallabies could ‘100 per cent’ win the World Cup after losing to Argentina in the rugby championship.

“Right now it seems like we’re miles away from where we need to be. But all this will make us harder and hungrier to get it right,” he said.

Things didn’t start well under Eddie Jones on his second arrival as coach, with the Wallabies beaten by a second-tier Sprinboks team in South Africa (pictured)

New Zealand international rugby powerhouse defeated the Wallabies in their opening game of the Bledisloe Cup

The Wallabies are now trailing Argentina after Los Pumas secured a landslide victory in the rugby championship (pictured)

The bullish mentor also claimed his massive underdogs could snatch the Bledisloe Cup from New Zealand, something Australia hasn’t managed since 2002.

‘There’s nothing better than winning against New Zealand because you feel the country sinking,’ Jones boldly declared before the Wallabies were pumped 38-7 in Australia’s opening game.

It’s not just rugby that’s sinking, the country is sinking. The whole economy collapses.’

The job for the Wallabies is huge, although they got a break in the draw.

Australia are in Group C alongside Wales, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal, meaning they have a path to the semi-finals clear of the vast majority of the tournament’s heavyweights.

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan knows the Wallabies have an extremely short window of time to return to success.

A large number of issues have affected the national side.

Ireland are the current world champions and Six Nations trophy holders and are building an empire that the Wallabies are now emulating

Rugby Australia President Hamish McLennan knows there is a lot of work ahead to rebuild the sport in Australia at all levels

Super Rugby was decimated by the Covid pandemic, Rugby Australia’s treasury fell alarmingly low, a problem not remedied by paying out $8 million to expunged fullback Israel Folau to avoid an even more costly lawsuit.

Speaking to the AFR, McLennan said Rugby Australia is looking for Ireland, who crashed out of the 1999 World Cup quarter-finals and struggled heavily afterwards.

Since then, Irish rugby has been rebuilt to not only find success on the pitch, but the kind of profitable domestic and international systems that the Wallabies are desperately trying to build.

“I think you have to learn from the Irish, who have a lot of Australians there to coach. What they’ve done is be very smart with their resources,” McLennan said.

“Their system is so efficient at managing the squad, whereas in Australia there is a divide between Rugby Australia and our provinces.

That creates inefficiencies from the grassroots down to the Wallabies. As we move through private equity, we need to clean all that up and restructure the entire organization.”