Eddie Jones would be a “fabulous” addition to the coaching brainpower in Australia for the run to the 2027 Rugby World Cup when his time in England is up.
That’s the strong view of Wallabies great Phil Kearns, who believes time has long mended all the fences broken by Jones’s acrimonious split from the Australia coaching job 16 years ago.
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The 1991 World Cup-winning hooker said building resilience in “the rugby youth of our nation, the up-and-coming players” would be a perfect fit if Jones is ready to step away from head coaching roles.
Kearns was today casting his mind to what the future might look like when Australia is given the go-ahead to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the women’s equivalent in 2029.
It’s is one month until the formal vote is taken but both cases seem past the post with preferred candidate status bestowed on the Australian bids.
As Executive Director of Australia’s 2027 RWC Bid, Kearns was extolling the positives of the bid at a school holidays rugby clinic for juniors at Brothers Rugby Club on Wednesday. Annette Finch, the former Wallaroos prop, was doing the same for a 2029 tournament that would super-charge the women's game.
“We’ve been very keen all along to make sure the legacy of our World Cup bid 2027 doesn’t start in 2027. We want it to start now, encourage kids and keep the important momentum around what this bid means,” Kearns said.
He refuses to call the bid past the post until it is.
“I don’t know what could go wrong. We were 20 points up with five minutes to play. Now, we are 20 points up with one minute to play. But, we are keeping it tight in the forwards and not throwing the ball to the wingers who are screaming for it,” he said with a smile.
Jones will lead the England team to Australia for a fascinating and crowd-pulling three-Test series in July. Calls for his head have grown after an unconvincing Six Nations campaign but Kearns is unmoved.
“They are not going to get rid of him before the 2023 World Cup. He won’t be panicking about his position,” Kearns said of his former Randwick clubmate.
“I’m looking forward to what goes on between Eddie and (Wallabies coach) Dave Rennie. It will be combative with the English and Eddie will throw bait out there for sure.”
Rather than becoming a candidate for the Wallabies job again, Kearns sees Jones in a different role altogether post-2023 to advance Australian rugby’s goal to be the world’s best.
“Eddie is a really good bloke and an amazing coach. I think Eddie would be fabulous in dealing with the rugby youth of our nation, the up-and-coming players,” Kearns said.
“I think he builds resilience in players. He’s not easy with them and I think we all know that. He’s tough.
“He demands excellence and that can only be good for players on the way through. I think it would be awesome if Eddie had a role in the future of Australian rugby.
“I think those (broken) bridges should well and truly be rebuilt and pave the way for Eddie to come back in some role.”
Queensland Reds coach Brad Thorn put his coaching ambitions on new footing this week when suggesting: “If the opportunity presented itself at the right time later down the track, I would be honoured to coach the Wallabies.”
Kearns welcomed more quality at the pointy end of Australian rugby coaching with 2027 again in mind. Rennie, Dan McKellar (Brumbies) and Thorn (Reds) might all be in the hunt for the Wallabies job for 2027.
“Dave is doing a great job of rebuilding the side and the culture and he’s not quite ready to give that up,” Kearns said.
“I’d like to see a really good showing against England in July, a 2-1 series win would be outstanding.
“I thought there were some really good signs from the Wallabies at the end of last year so some improvement again would be good. I think Dave has rebuilt the culture and the style of play is better than we’ve played for a number of years.
“Maybe it’s a bit premature that (Thorn) discussion. Great that he’s put up his hand. Brad has done terrific stuff with the Queensland Reds and I love his no-nonsense approach.
“If you’ve got three or four candidates who are all world class going for that coaching position it can only be good because it’s like players competing for positions on the field.”
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Kearns said the buzz of kids playing rugby around him at Brothers was the sound he most liked to hear in the game.
“Absolutely the No.1 reason I did this job was to try to get a base point to rebuild rugby in this country,” Kearns said.
“Bidding for this World Cup, we are talking participant numbers going up 30 per cent and that’s players, referees, administrators, volunteers and so on.
“To have the World Cup to inspire those people is crucial. The heart and soul of the game is club rugby be it subbies, Hospital Cup, Shute Shield and so on.
“If World Cup 2027 can inspire there, that’s the job.”
