VIDEO: 'My job is to make sure he doesn't listen to guys like you putting rubbish in his head'
Outspoken Australian coach Eddie Jones has delivered another baneful broadside at the media in the wake of his winless start to his second tenure as Wallaby mentor.
Jones said the Wallabies are “remodelling” with young players, believing youthful vigour can halt a slump with just five weeks to go until the Rugby World Cup.
Jones has made scrumhalf Tate McDermott captain for the dead rubber Bledisloe Cup Test against the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday, with three starting changes made to the team that lost 7-38 in Melbourne last week.
McDermott’s appointment means Nic White is again on the bench alongside experienced halfback partner Quade Cooper, with Jones keeping faith in rookie flyhalf Carter Gordon despite a nervy performance last weekend.
Under mounting pressure after losing his first three games in charge, Jones said it was obvious that change was needed and did not rule out the possibility of McDermott leading the Wallabies at the World Cup, having initially named James Slipper and the currently-injured Michael Hooper as co-captains.
Jones was riled by questions about the retention of playmaker Gordon, who made several errors in what was the 22-year-old’s first start last week.
“I don’t think I got it wrong, mate,” Jones said.
“In fact, I’m going to get it right.
“And the player will get it right.
“And to say that a young No.10 in his first game, you’ve got it wrong in selecting him, is just a load of rubbish, mate.
“Anyone who asks that question knows nothing about the game.”
He said anyone that knows anything about the game, will know flyhalves need ‘time in the seat’.
“If you don’t know anything about the game, don’t talk to me,” he snapped back at a follow-up question.
Jones said Gordon does not need to listen to what the media says about him, but rather take heed of the instructions coming from the Wallaby coaching staff.
“He’s going to make more mistakes, I can guarantee you that.
“The reality is, a young guy learning his apprenticeship needs to make mistakes, learn from it and not listen too much to blokes like you.”
(WATCH as winless Wallaby coach Eddie Jones reacted, in typical insolent, to a suggestion that he got his team selections wrong…)
Jones said he is ‘remodelling’ the team.
“We need to change the team from where we’ve been and part of it is definitely the leadership aspect,” Jones added.
“Tate’s captain for this game but then we’ll assess it at the end of the tournament and then we go into World Cup mode.
“This has been a period we’ve been finding out a lot about the team, finding out what’s good, what’s not so good, where are we strong, where are we not strong.
“The nucleus of any good team going forward is the leadership and the captain’s obviously a massive part of that.”
It is the seventh-lowest capped Wallabies starting XV in the professional era, with just 277 Tests played between them.
“We’ve got to improve the team and I’ve decided to improve the team through promoting the young players,” Jones said.
“That doesn’t mean that the senior players haven’t got a crucial role to play, but we feel that they can be a team that’s capable of winning big games consistently and at the moment we’re going to go through a bit of up and down as we get there.”
* Additional reporting by AFP
* The full Eddie Jones interview …
