Former Wallaby wants ex-Australia head coach to replace Eddie Jones

Former Australia second-row Peter FitzSimons has urged Rugby Australia to sack Eddie Jones and bring back Robbie Deans as the Wallabies’ head coach after their poor Rugby World Cup campaign.

FitzSimons, who is a well known columnist and commentator and had previously supported Jones’ appointment after Dave Rennie was axed, said it’s time “for Australian rugby to move on from Eddie Jones”.

‘Jones has worsened the problem’

Writing in his Sydney Morning Herald column after Australia’s 40-6 defeat to Wales in their Pool C encounter at the Rugby World Cup, FitzSimons said: “We thought [Jones] was part of the solution, but he has only made the problem worse.

“Seven losses out of eight Tests under his command speaks for itself, as does the failure to get at least to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in history.”

FitzSimons added that Jones had been “an extraordinary coach, with a record across 20 years that is absolutely second to none”.

“But it is equally undeniable that this year he has taken what was a talented if underperforming team under Dave Rennie, and turned them into a basket case. Just why they have performed so badly, under a coach as accomplished as him, is not clear.

“What is clear is that he has to go.”

FitzSimons said “the problem is solved’’ if Jones “gets the Japanese gig” he was reportedly interviewed for ahead of the World Cup, according to a Sydney Morning Herald report.

“If he doesn’t, there will have to be a negotiated settlement – ideally without having to pay him out for the long-term [five-year] contract he was absurdly put on in the first place.”

And FitzSimons said he “would beg Robbie Deans to come back”.

“He is accomplished, understands Australian rugby, and is everything that Eddie is not: cool-headed, inclined to stability in team selections, and extremely well-liked by everyone in the media.

“He is currently coaching in Japan, so if they got Eddie and we got Robbie there would be a certain symmetry to it.”

Former All Black Deans had an impressive record as a coach with the Crusaders and guided the Christchurch-based outfit to five Super Rugby titles in nine seasons from 2000 to 2008.

The 64-year-old’s first Super Rugby title came in 2000 after beating a Brumbies side coached by Jones in Canberra.

Five-year stint as Wallabies coach

Deans then coached the Wallabies from 2008 to 2013 and they reached the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-finals before being fired after a series defeat to the British and Irish Lions in 2013.

He has been based in Japan since 2014 where he has coached the Saitama Wild Knights to six national titles.

Deans, who played at full-back in five Tests for New Zealand between 1983 and 1985, was also an All Blacks assistant coach under John Mitchell from 2001 to 2003.

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