VIDEO: Eddie - 'South Africans don’t inspire me as much as I admire them'
SPOTLIGHT: Wallaby head coach Eddie Jones applauded South Africa’s “bold” use of their replacements against the All Blacks, but he is not using it as a source of inspiration ahead of the World Cup.
The Boks have been in the spotlight in the last week after they used a seven-one split between forwards and backs on the bench in the 35-7 win over Ian Foster’s side at Twickenham.
Willie le Roux, who was originally named on the bench, had a rib injury and the Bok coaches decided not to risk him with loose forward Kwagga Smith taking his place among the reserves.
It left Cobus Reinach being the only backline replacement for the match.
While the Boks received a lot of praise for the innovation, there was some questions. One of them came from Australian coach Matt Williams, who said “the South Africans are just abusing the bench at the moment”.
However, Jones doesn’t see it that way.
The story continues below…
“Tradition says five-three and that doesn’t mean it is right,” Jones told reporters at the Australian team’s World Cup base north of Saint-Etienne in France.
“If you are going to play a heavily dominated forward game, why wouldn’t you have more forward players on your bench?
“The world is changing; the game of rugby is changing and the way it is officiated is changing. It is just a sign of the times.
Jones added: “It doesn’t really interest me because we are playing a World Cup and I am not going to change the replacement rules before the World Cup.
“I have told this story before – when I was with Japan we played against Georgia in the last warm-up game [before the 2015 World Cup] with nine forwards and six backs.
“Who says you got to have eight forwards and seven backs? You don’t have to. That is what tradition tells us.
“I applaud South Africa for being so bold and courageous in the way they want to play the game. That is a great innovation.”
When asked if he was inspired by South Africa’s “innovation”, Jones said: “Well, it doesn’t inspire me. South Africans don’t inspire me as much as I admire them.”
Meanwhile, Jones revealed that veteran prop James Slipper is set to miss their World Cup opener as he battles with a tendon problem in his foot.
“At this stage, it’s definitely touch and go for Georgia,” said Jones.
“He’s got a tendon problem with his foot. We believe we’ve got that under control and he’ll be back on the paddock after Georgia.”
@rugby365com
Additional reporting: AAP
