Eddie’s reality check for rugby’s biggest rivals

New Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says it is up to the national team to highlight rugby’s biggest advantage over its domestic sporting rivals.

Speaking on his new podcast, Eddie, with David Pembroke, Jones lauded the AFL and NRL as “highly successful domestic sports” while pointing out rugby’s trump card.

“The opportunity there… being involved in the game, coaching or playing overseas, is remarkable,” Jones said.

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“And the breadth and the richness of experience you can have through rugby – AFL and NRL can’t compete with that. They can compete in terms of the domestic market very well, but certainly not in terms of the global market.

“To get kids to see that opportunity the Wallabies have got to be successful, because kids need role models. And those role models have got to come from the Australian side playing well.”

Jones is a huge advocate of learning from other sports and applying lessons to rugby.

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He regularly uses league coaches as his assistants and has even floated the idea of working in the NRL one day.

Jones felt rugby in Australia had maybe been “a little bit detached from the community and that’s one of the things we’ve got to look at.”

He reiterated his belief that the Wallabies could win the Rugby World Cup this year despite their current ranking of sixth behind Ireland, France, New Zealand, South Africa and England.

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“There’s a cluster at the top which is unusual in world rugby, because we’ve usually had New Zealand ahead,” Jones said.

“It’s like coming out around the home turn in the Melbourne Cup, they’d be three or four legs in front and everyone else would be under the whip chasing.

“And now we’ve got this cluster of teams coming over the rise and whoever can kick from here on has got a great opportunity and there’s no reason why it can’t be us.

“The only advantage we have is learning quicker than the opposition. There’s no new technology, there’s no new whiz bang way to to improve preparation. It’s all about who can learn the most so you can find out the things that make the most difference.”

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