Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says he is searching for a new Australian rugby identity that better reflects the rising percentage of Pasifika talent within the national team.
Jones was reflecting on the differences within the Australian rugby landscape from his first stint as Wallabies coach between 2001-05.
He has since coached in England, South Africa and Japan before returning home for another crack at the Rugby World Cup in 2023.
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“The big thing that’s changed mate is the demographics of the team,” Jones told New Zealand’s The Breakdown (available to watch on Stan Sport) on Sunday after naming his Rugby Championship squad.
“Now we have a strong Pacific population playing Super Rugby and competing for spots in the Wallabies. And the power of the players we have is completely different than 20 years ago. So that’s changed the game completely in Australia.
“And we’ve got to find a way – it’s a bit like New Zealand, maybe in the early 2000s – find a way to get the right balance of our teams and that’s the challenge going forward.”
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Despite the changing demographic, Jones said there were still valuable lessons to be drawn from Australia’s rich rugby history.
“We had (former Wallabies coach) Bob Dwyer come down (to Coogee Oval) on Monday and he said two things to me. He said ‘pass shorter and run straighter’ and I reckon that’s about right. I reckon Australian rugby’s always been at its best when we’re attacking the line.
“You know, we’re not a team that’s generally played well in big spaces. We’re a team that creates space and we’re at our best when we’re probing, we’re hitting gaps and then we’re taking the ball to space. Whereas a lot of times what I’ve seen in Australian rugby over the last period of time, we’ve been playing the space. So we’ve been taking that space around. We’ve got to get better at creating space and then using the space.”
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Jones was also bullish about the Wallabies reclaiming the Bledisloe Cup this year.
Australia will host New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 29 before the return match under the roof at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium on August 5.
“The odds are in favour for us – is it 22 years since we’ve won? There’s a lot of odds saying we should be able to do the business this year,” Jones said.
All Blacks great Jeff Wilson agreed New Zealand should have its guard up in 2023.
“The Reds and the Brumbies came to Hamilton and played the Chiefs and showed they’re well and truly prepared and defensively can be very, very good,” Wilson said.
“Defence wins titles. We saw that last night (with the Crusaders). That’s how it’s going to come about. This is a good (Wallabies) squad. This is a really, really good team.
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“I don’t think we should be worried, but we should be wary – the fact that they’re capable.”
Former New Zealand sevens captain Karl Te Nana described Jones as the “master tactician.”
“What I love about him is he’s open and honest, he looks outside the box and I think with the team that he’s got, and where this has come from, you look at the way they attack now – they’re coming around the corner,” Te Nana said.
“Just watching the under-20s (world championship), it’s a new version of attack and I think he’s going to bring that back here and try and use his young dudes in this squad.
“He’s got to start employing that.”
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