‘The pressure is on Australia’: Eddie Jones fires a shot at the Wallabies. Sort of

He came, he zoomed, he logged off.

So went a brief, and only mildly spicy, pre-game press conference from Eddie Jones on Thursday night, as his Japan side prepares to meet the Wallabies on Saturday in Osaka.

The anticipation of some verbal fireworks from Jones was only natural. Here is a man who has, over the course of his long career, made an art of dropping a well-placed barb or pressurising critique of a green rival.

Sometimes, as it unfolded near the end days of his ill-fated 2023 Wallabies return, those barbs were even aimed straight back at the scribes asking the questions, along with instructions to apply some self-inflicted upper cuts.

Jones departed the Wallabies soon after and landed back in Japan. Almost three years on, Australia are in Osaka to meet his Brave Blossoms. It is not the first meeting – Jones’ side lost to the Wallabies in Tokyo last year – but with residual tension still in the air, a new Wallabies coach and Japan an ever-improving side, the clash on Saturday still carries just as much meaning.

And so it came to pass that Jones was sitting at a desk in the Japan team hotel on Thursday night, doing a press conference after naming his side to meet the Wallabies. For reasons not explained, the conference was not in person, but rather conducted on Zoom. A handful of Australian journalists sat dotted amid a group of around 40 Japanese entrants.

The fireworks would have to be virtual.

“It’s another test match for us to grow and learn and compete against the team in the top eight in the world,” Jones said. “You know, our record against Australia, there’s been seven official Test matches, we don’t have a win yet, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for Japan to create new history.

“And we saw last year that we were getting closer to Australia, and believe that gap, if there’s a gap now, is going to be minimised again on the weekend.”

So far, so diplomatic. Jones was asked about the make-up of his team, which surprisingly didn’t contain former Reds big man Harry Hockings in the starting side. Wallabies coach Les Kiss had, just hours earlier, said they’d identified Hockings and captain Warner Dearns as the major threats for Japan.

Jones had moved another Aussie, Jack Cornelsen, into the second row to pick Kanji Shimokawa, a mobile backrower tasked with shutting down Fraser McReight.

“This is the best 23 and we’ve got the highest confidence that they can do the job for Japan on the weekend at Osaka,” he said.

“The team’s prepared really well. I think we probably had one of our best preparation periods, and we feel like we’re ready to go after Australia. You know, there’s a lot of pressure on Australia.”

Here we go.

“They got a very experienced team,” Jones continued. “It’s a game that they’d be expected to win. So we want to make sure we’re putting pressure on them right from the start.”

Before Kiss, Jones was the last Australian coach to take over mid-season, when he replaced Rod Macqueen in 2001. Did he sense that handover could provide the cracks required for Japan to get that win over Australia?

“Les and Joe have had a pretty close relationship going back to when Les was in Ireland, so their thinking would be the same,” Jones said. ”

“There’ll be little nuances they change, but I think it’ll be a reasonably easy transition given also that Les coached the Reds and a number of the players he selected have come from the Reds team.

“I see that being a fairly seamless transition. Look, we’re more interested in ourselves than Australia. You know, we believe it’s a team that can beat Australia. And Australia’s got a very experienced team.

“If you look at a number of those players, they were young players back in the 2023 World Cup, now they have 50 or 60 caps next to their name.

“So they’re coming into their prime stage of their careers. So we’re going to have to be at our best, and we’re prepared to be at our best, so we’re really looking forward to getting the chance to make history.”

Just seven players in the Wallabies 23-man squad were at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and the trio who now have more than 50 caps – Tate McDermott, Rob Valetini and Taniela Tupou – were 24, 25 and 27 in 2023.

But never mind that. Back to the fireworks.

Jones was asked if the heatwave conditions in Japan at the moment could be to his side’s advantage over the Wallabies.

“Well, I’ve never gone to France at Stade de France and they put on the heaters for you, have you?” he asked.

No Eddie.

“That’s Test match rugby, you know? You go home and away, and you play in the conditions.”

And then – 18 minutes into a 30-minute press conference – thanks were offered and the screen went blank. Jones had gone, the Zoom was over and those fireworks had failed to truly pop or crackle.

Oh well. There is always game day.

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