Jones returns to Super Rugby
World Cup-winning former Springbok assistant coach Eddie Jones will return to Super Rugby after eight years.
Jones, who also took the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup Final, has been appointed Director of Rugby for the Japanese Super Rugby team – which will join the expanded championship next season.
Jones, who guided the Brumbies to their first Super Rugby title in 2001, has been in charge of the Japan side since 2012 and will lead them to the World Cup in England later this year.
"As the first Director of Rugby, I feel a large responsibility as well feeling fortunate," Jones said in quotes posted in Japanese on the Japanese Rugby Union website.
"More than anything else, though, I look forward to working with staff and players to build a team that represents Japanese rugby.
"With pride and passion we'll take part in Super Rugby and I hope this will give Japanese players experience of rugby at an international level."
Jones, who played for the Randwick club and New South Wales in the 1980s, started his coaching career with Randwick – then moved to Tokai University, became that Japan assistant coach, joined Suntory Sungoliath, the Brumbies (in 1998), where he won a Super Rugby title in 2001.
He became Wallaby coach from 2001 to 2005, then became a consultat at Saracens and joined up with the Reds for a brief and unsuccesful stint in 2007.
That same year he accepted an offer to become an assistant coach to his good friend Jake White at the SAporingboks and helped guide them to their second World Cup title in Frace.
He returned to Saracens for two seasons, before joining up with Suntory Sungoliath yet again.
Jones was appoinetd Japan head coach in 2012.
The as yet unnamed Super Rugby team, which will be based in Tokyo but play up to four matches a season in Singapore, will compete in one of two South African conferences in the rejigged 18-team competition.
The team is likely to be built around home-based Japanese national team players with the addition of foreign players already at clubs in the country's Top League.
Japan host the World Cup in 2019 and Jones said Super Rugby would be the perfect stepping stone for the country's players as they look to bridge the gap between domestic rugby and the demands of the test arena.
"Taking part in the challenge of Super Rugby is extremely important for Japanese Rugby," the 55-year-old added.
"The tough battles of Super Rugby make it possible to advance from Top League rugby to test match level.
"This will give many Japanese rugby players the chance to play international rugby regularly."
