Eddie Jones backs youthful Wallabies to win back-to-back World Cups in 2023 and 2027
Eddie Jones prior to Australia's Rugby Championship game with Argentina.
Despite naming a youthful squad, with 25 players set to make their World Cup debuts, Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones believes his team can lift the Webb Ellis Cup as champions this year and repeat that feat at the 2027 tournament in Australia.
Jones also omitted former skipper Michael Hooper and experienced fly-half Quade Cooper from his squad while appointing behemoth second-row Will Skelton as the Wallabies’ new captain.
Fifth captain in 2023
Skelton becomes the Wallabies’ fifth captain in 2023 after Hooper, James Slipper, Tate McDermott, who has been appointed as the team’s new vice-captain, and Allan Alaalatoa.
The average age of the 33-man squad is just 26 and the average caps sits at 20 – their lowest since the 1991 tournament.
Jones took over the Wallabies’ coaching reins from New Zealander Dave Rennie at the start of the year and signed a five-year contract with Rugby Australia.
What is very evident is that Jones’ squad for the global showpiece in France, which kicks off in less than a month’s time, has been selected with the 2027 World Cup in home soil also in mind.
And the 63-year-old is adamant that the Wallabies will be amongst the contenders at this year’s World Cup and the one on home soil in 2027 as well.
“This squad is good enough to win this World Cup and possibly go on to win the next World Cup,” said Jones. “That’s the advantage of picking young guys.
“They all deserve their opportunities. It’s not as if we’re handing them jerseys on a platter but they’ll bring energy and a lot of ambition and enthusiasm.
“If we don’t then it will be a failure. But there are other ways to be successful.
Keen to achieve success
“If we come back and if everyone in Australia is talking about how good the Wallabies were at the World Cup, and how excited they were about watching them play, then we will have had some success.”
The Wallabies are set to face France in a World Cup warm-up match on August 28 before taking on Georgia in their tournament opener on September 10.
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