By Frank Dalleres
Former England rugby coach Eddie Jones is set for his third different job in just over a year after being appointed Japan boss for a second time.
Jones was sacked by England chiefs in December last year after a dire run and promptly took charge of his native Australia, only to flop spectacularly at the World Cup earlier this year.
That has not deterred the Japan Rugby Football Union from reappointing Jones, who was in charge when they pulled off a huge upset against South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
The JRFU said it was “delighted to announce the appointment of Eddie Jones as the new head coach of the Japan national team, the Brave Blossoms. Eddie Jones will officially commence his duties from 1 January 2024.”
Jones, who is half-Japanese, repeatedly denied rumours that he was in the frame to return to his old job before, during and after coaching Australia at the World Cup in France in the autumn.
Following his resignation from the Australia job at the end of October, the 62-year-old insisted he had “no job offer” from Japan but a week later said he’d “definitely be interested”.
Jones took issue with suggestions that he had not been fully committed to Australia as his youthful team crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage for the first time.
“If I was intending to go somewhere else, why would I take a young squad?” he said last month. “Unless I’m a lunatic – which I’m probably close to – but not a full-blown lunatic.”
It was also Jones’s second spell in charge of Australia, having led the Wallabies to the World Cup final, where they lost to England, at the 2003 edition of the tournament.
