The financial implications of Eddie Jones’ departure on Rugby Australia

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh admits the settlement with Eddie Jones over his departure as head coach has left the governing body in a “very good situation financially”.

Jones returned to the helm of the Wallabies at the beginning of the year for the second time and looked to radically change the make-up of the side to fast-track the development of certain players and the team.

The bold decisions did not bear fruit for the veteran coach with the team struggling throughout the year and into the Rugby World Cup in France, culminating in their first-ever pool stage exit.

The coach’s contract extended beyond this year but Jones handed in his resignation soon after the completion of the global showpiece.

“As low as I’ve seen in my time”

Waugh admits the performance of the team was not good enough and also explained why Rugby Australia had taken a while to get their statement out regarding Jones’ departure.

“I think there’s a lot of good things happening across the game, whereas the Wallabies’ performance at the World Cup was as low as I’ve seen in my time,” he said.

“We’ve got a deed of release with Eddie and the reason why we have taken some time to get to our announcement out this morning is because we were working through that deed of release.

“I think I’ve been fairly transparent around the fact that Rugby Australia has ended up in a very good situation financially through the separation.”

Disagreement

Some of Jones’ decisions caused a lot of debate but none more so than his squad selection for the World Cup which saw the Wallabies‘ most capped skipper Michael Hooper along with veteran duo Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley omitted.

The experienced tactician believed the trio were not good role models for the team, a sentiment which Waugh disagrees with.

“Across Michael Hooper, Quade Cooper, Bernard Foley, there’s 280 to 300 Test matches between those three,” Waugh said.

“They’ve all put their body on the line over a long period of time and are role models to not just their peers, but [for] young boys and girls coming through the system. So I think it’s an absolutely unfair comment towards those players given what they’ve contributed to rugby.”

The Japan saga

As if the pressure on Jones was not enough after his squad selection, then came the rumours and reports that he had an interview with the Japan Rugby Football Union over their head coach vacancy beginning in 2024. It was believed that the interview took place just before the tournament in France.

Waugh acknowledges the criticism of how Rugby Australia handled the situation but revealed he took Jones’ word after the coach denied the reports.

“Yeah, I know that there has been some level of criticism around how we’ve handled this,” Waugh said.

“Should we have called the Japanese? I genuinely don’t think that level of inquiry is required from me, and I’ve got a very good relationship with all the national unions and also with the Japanese national union.

“I’ve taken Eddie at his word. I’ve seen some of the responses that you’ve [the media] asked, and they haven’t been the clearest.

“Whether that’s true or not [Jones speaking to Japan], I don’t think that changes the position we are right now in whether Eddie was to stay on or whether Eddie was to go.”

READ MORE: The long list of potential Eddie Jones replacements at Australia