Eddie Jones: Super Rugby is no longer World Rugby’s ‘greatest influence’ and it has impacted the All Blacks
Crusaders players celebrate after winning the Super Rugby Pacific Round 16 match and an inset of Eddie Jones.
Eddie Jones says that Super Rugby is no longer a trend-setting club competition and that has had an impact on the All Blacks’ performances.
The southern hemisphere’s premier club competition used to be the breeding ground for innovation and set trends as to how the international game would be played, according to Jones.
However, that is no longer the case with the competition’s status declining along with their influence on World Rugby.
The All Blacks dominated the international scene between 2011 and 2015 in particular; however, their authority in the Test scene has slipped more recently with several first defeats to the likes of Ireland and Argentina, while they’ve struggled against France and South Africa at times too.
Super Rugby is no longer a leader in World Rugby
Jones believes that there are ‘nuances’ in the game which can shift the power from one team to another, with the Springboks particularly benefiting from the current laws and trends.
New Zealand and Australia have been pushing to speed up the game as stipulated with their new law modifications that are “designed to further reduce stoppages, inspire positive play and simplify the officiating of the game.”
Super Rugby has been renowned over the years for trialling laws but Jones believes the competition’s influence has dwindled.
“That’s the other thing that’s changed for New Zealand Rugby; Super Rugby was the greatest influence of World Rugby for a long period of time; whatever happened in Super Rugby basically set the trend for the game,” Jones said on the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.
“Unfortunately, Super Rugby has dropped in terms of status. We all know South Africa has left, and now it’s a competition that doesn’t have as much influence around the world.
“The changes the Super Rugby people have made are absolutely outstanding. They’ve shown a lot of courage, they’ve got a clear direction of how they want the game, but it doesn’t tend to influence World Rugby as much as it used to.”
Eddie Jones ‘disappointed’ by how NZ Rugby ‘handled’ Scott Robertson’s sacking and ‘leaking’ details
Super Rugby Pacific ‘rates’ better without South Africa as CEO issues blunt verdict on expansion
Where the All Blacks are falling short
The role of benches in the international game has only increased in recent years with the Springboks popularising the term ‘Bomb Squad’ during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
France and England have copied their playbook with forward-heavy benches of their own, meaning that there is less fatigue in the game in the latter stages of the matches, where Jones believes that New Zealand used to thrive.
Super Rugby’s trials will also limit the roles of the TMOs, a positive move in the Japan boss’ opinion, as he sees the fourth official’s involvement in the game as a hindrance to the fatigue factor.
“We’ve seen the game from being a partly fatigue game; it was never a fatigue game like rugby league, but now we’re averaging with Japan, we’ll average approximately 33 work periods that are 45 seconds or under, and then we’ll only have 16 or 17 that are 45 seconds above,” he explained.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“To add to that, the rest periods are at least twice the work periods. So, it’s a massive truncated power game now.
“We’ve seen that, particularly with South Africa, they basically put on a new team for the last 40 minutes, and they can play with more power than they had in the first half.
“That part of the game I think’s changed a lot and and I don’t see it going away from that in the in the not too distant future because of the influence of the TMO. We saw that game on the weekend that England-Wales game, mate, I almost had to turn it off. Like when I’m hearing the TMO telling the referee what to do every period of play, like it just becomes tedious. It’s tedious to watch.
“And this is someone who loves the game. When it becomes tedious to watch, it’s bloody hard work, mate. Imagine if you’re a bloke who’s just come back from work. You want to have a bit of entertainment and you sit down and you watch rugby and all you’re hearing is, ‘You miss that head? Check that head. Check that head. I think he hit his head. No, he definitely hit his head. Check that. Check that.'”
