‘It’s about consistency’: Why Eddie Jones sprayed reporters in Sydney

Before flying out to France a few weeks ago, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones unleashed his frustration and disappointment upon journalists during the “worst press conference I’ve ever had.”

Now we know why. For the first time since that now infamous press conference, coach Jones has revealed the reasons behind his antics – saying, “Sometimes you’ve gotta have a bit of fun.”

The Wallabies named a young 33-man squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, and coached Jones named a new captain ahead of the sports showpiece event as well.

Some selections raised eyebrows, sure, but those decisions had been made by the Australian selectors as their sights on a warm-up Test with France in Paris.

The Wallabies had their bags packed and some stylish apparel on as they prepared to head towards the departures at Sydney International Airport on August 18.

As Australia farewelled their rugby union heroes, coach Jones spoke with some reporters – and it didn’t exactly go down well, but Jones doesn’t regret it either.

“Sometimes you’ve gotta have a bit of fun. There was a serious part to it,” Jones said on Ben Fordham Live on Thursday. “We’ve got a young team here, we’re trying to find our way.

“The journos, all they wanted to concentrate (on) was old conversations that weren’t even true.

“We’ve obviously had a disappointing lead-up to the World Cup but we’re here now, we’ve got a good, young team, we’ve got a new captain in Will Skelton, and we’re ready to go.

“We’ve got to look after our team, we’ve got to look after a young group of players and we want them to feel like there’s people behind them.”

The Wallabies started their new era under coach Jones with an emphatic loss to world champions South Africa in Pretoria.

Things didn’t get much better for the men in gold, with the Aussies losing on home soil a week later to Argentina. Back-to-back defeats to the All Blacks followed, including a thriller in Dunedin.

But the reality of the situation was clear for all to see. While the Wallabies had shown glimpses of promise, they were still 0-4 and were set to play France in Paris before the World Cup.

Playing in front of a vibrant crowd at Stade de France last weekend, the Wallabies couldn’t turn attacking pressure into points as Les Bleus made them pay on the scoreboard.

France ran away with a 41-17 victory as the Wallabies fell to five losses from as many starts under coach Jones.

“It’s really interesting mate. Against France our best moments were better than France, but our worst moments are far worse than France,” Jones added.

Points Flow Chart

France win +24

Time in lead

75

Mins in lead

0

93%

% Of Game In Lead

0%

40%

Possession Last 10 min

60%

10

Points Last 10 min

5

“It’s about consistency, keep doing the simple things well, and at the moment we don’t have the capacity to do that but we’re slowly building.

“We’ve built from the first game of The Rugby Championship to the last game of The Rugby Championship, and the France (match) which was another step in the right direction.

“The pool games are about getting through to the playoffs and we’ve got Georgia in the first game in two weeks’ time and we’ll have a great preparation for them.”