Almost two years to the day that Eddie Jones departed Australian rugby, only narrowly avoiding the door swatting him on his way out, the Wallabies are set to come face to face with their former mentor in Tokyo.
Few people across the Australian rugby community shed a tear, if any at all, when Jones packed up his notebook and headed for Japan for a job he, to this day, maintains he had not taken before the Wallabies’ 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign descended into complete and utter chaos.
The fact Jones was unveiled as the Brave Blossoms coach a few weeks later is why that statement will forever be taken with more than just a few grains of salt.
But Jones’ biggest insult to the country that set him on his path to what has otherwise been a remarkable coaching career, which includes a Rugby World Cup triumph as an assistant, a further two finals in the top job, and what remains the game’s most storied upset, came a few months later.
“That’s the problem mate, we’ve got no hardness about us,” Jones said to Wallabies great James Slipper, in an extraordinary moment that was captured by Stan’s documentary, The Wallabies.
“Game hardness is different to any sort of hardness, when you just stick in the f—— game and do it. There’s none of that in Australian rugby now, and that’s where the big gap is, mate.”
The statement, even from a bloke with a history of stunning one-liners, was incredible, and must have had the documentary’s loggers smiling from ear to ear. A project that was designed to chart what Australia hoped was going to be a successful World Cup campaign had descended into a trainwreck of epic proportions, and viewers simply wouldn’t be able to look away.
The Wallabies was going to prove as one of the all-time “hate watches” and Jones was squarely to blame.
But after all the drama, the Australian’s “hardness” comment cut to the core of the game Down Under.
Did Jones have a point? Was that one of the reasons why the Wallabies exited the World Cup at the pool stage for the first time… or was Eddie talking out of his you know where?
Thankfully, as it has turned out, nothing could be further than the truth: “hardness” wasn’t in as short a supply as Jones might have had you think.
While the British and Irish Lions series was lost, the fact the Wallabies salvaged a comprehensive win in the third Test was a sign that commentary was wide of the mark. A drought-breaking, 62-year first in Johannesburg was its confirmation.
That incredible comeback win at the spiritual home of Springboks rugby put the rugby world on notice – it was full of self-belief, heart and some sparkling Wallabies rugby that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
“Hardness” was again on show when Australia went to the 86th minute in Townsville, spurning the chance for a near-guaranteed penalty and a draw, and instead went for the try and the win over the Pumas. They were dually rewarded when Angus Bell charged over from close range.
The Wallabies are by no means the finished product, and five straight Tests to finish the year, after what has already been their most brutal schedule years, will be a better measure of just how much progress has been made since 2024.
Despite their memorable triumphs this season, Australia sit at 4-6 for 2025, which is exactly the same record as they had at this stage last year.
Maybe Jones didn’t have the right players in France? Of the 33 players he chose, only nine are part of Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies squad that travelled to Tokyo on Sunday. Some have switched codes, have moved overseas and others, like Nic White and Slipper, have recently retired.
But then there are those that probably shouldn’t have been anywhere near the World Cup group, and others who were at the time inexplicably left out altogether.
When Slipper eventually fronted the media for the first time since Jones comments were revealed in The Wallabies, the prop asked “do you still want me to be diplomatic”, before admitting that “elements” of what his former coach had said may have been true.
Now that he has retired, you get the sense Slipper might respond somewhat differently, at least when asked about it on the pre-Test lunch circuit anyway.
And while current Wallabies captain Harry Wilson, whom Jones never selected across his chaotic 10-month reign, on Sunday said next weekend’s clash won’t be personal for the players that remain from that embarrassing 2023 campaign, the broader Australian rugby public would love nothing more than to exorcise the Eddie demons once and for all.
Hardness, Eddie? The Wallabies have shown plenty of that since you left, mate.
