Jones stays committed to Australia, stands by youth push after World Cup flop

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Jones stays committed to Australia, stands by youth push after World Cup flop

Jones has been linked with the Japan head coach job
Jones has been linked with the Japan head coach jobReuters
Eddie Jones said on Tuesday he is committed to coaching Australia for the long haul and stood by his ill-fated youth policy that saw the Wallabies crash to their earliest World Cup exit.

The Australian, whose mother and wife are Japanese, has been linked with the Japan head coach job since Australian media reported he had interviewed for it a couple of days before the Wallabies' final World Cup warm-up.

In his first public appearance since returning to Australia, Jones said he had not spoken to "anyone" about the Japan role and had no idea where the reports had come from.

"I’ve always been committed to Australian rugby and I want to leave it in a better place, and that’s still the job," he told reporters in Sydney.

After being sacked by England last December, Jones returned home in January on a five-year deal, his second stint as Australia coach after leading the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final in the first.

Jones immediately said Australia would claim a third World Cup triumph in France, an assertion that looked laughable after the Wallabies lost all five of their test matches in the run-up to the tournament.

With Rugby Australia to conduct a review of the World Cup, the coach conceded his future was not entirely in his hands.

"It’s not absolutely my decision, is it? We’ve got a review going forward and we’ll see what happens at the end of the review,” he said.

His inexperienced Wallabies squad exited the World Cup in France after a campaign that included back-to-back losses to Fiji and Wales.

Jones stood by his decision to go with youth and leave behind seasoned campaigners like Quade Cooper and Michael Hooper.

"I think we have left Australian rugby in a better position,” he said.

"I came into the Wallabies (with) short preparation time, I had to make a quick decision on what we do.

"I made a decision we’ve got to go with youth. That’s the best (decision) for Australia moving forward, and I still think I made the right decision there.

"I think those players, we’ve got a lot of good young players there who are going to benefit from that experience at a World Cup...and go onto the 2027 World Cup."

Rugby Australia's long-term appointment of Jones was made with the home 2027 World Cup in mind, and the governing body has kicked off a reform process to better align state federations in service to national teams.

Jones said the "system" needed to be fixed to ensure future success for the Wallabies.

"(We need) everyone working together form the grassroots with little kids down at Randwick, all the way to Super Rugby teams and Wallabies teams where we all work together to put together the most powerful rugby national team we can put together,” he added.

"If we can do that now then we’ve got a rosy future because we’ve got great support here and we need to generate more support with better results."