Why Jones' Wallabies homecoming could be 'bad news' for England
Chris Robshaw believes Eddie Jones will be determined to avenge his sacking by England and predicts Australia will benefit from an immediate uplift following his appointment as their head coach.
Jones has taken charge of the Wallabies a month after being dismissed by the Rugby Football Union, setting up the enticing prospect of him plotting his former employers' down fall at the World Cup in October.
Former red rose skipper Robshaw played under Jones from 2016 to 2018 and believes his appointment immediately makes Australia more formidable opponents.
"We've seen Eddie's comments that Australia might see England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup - and give a little smirk! You always want to get one over your former team," Robshaw said.
"I'm pretty sure Eddie will have a big impact. When any good coach goes into a different set-up it's bad news if it's not your team. Warren Gatland going back to Wales makes them tougher opposition straight away.
"When Eddie was in charge and England played Australia, we always knew it was a big game because of his history with Australia.
"But there was also the insight he had on the Australian players, the way they do things, their culture. Now he's got that first hand from an England point of view."
Although England had entered a deep malaise in the final throws of Jones' reign, winning just five of their 12 Tests last year, the early days were a stunning success.
Inheriting a team that had crashed to a group exit at the 2015 World Cup, he delivered a grand slam and series whitewash of Australia as part of a record-equalling 18-Test win run.
It was evidence of his skill to transform a team's fortunes in the short term and Robshaw was among those to benefit from his ability to push the right buttons.
"It's Eddie's mentality. He was better than any coach I have worked in terms of his man management," Robshaw said.
"And it wasn't always the big things, it was the little things like interacting with everyone every single morning in the breakfast room - going around all the tables.
"He would treat all the players differently. With someone like myself he was always very honest, with someone like James Haskell they would always take the mick out of each other. He interacted with the person rather than just the rugby player.
"For Australia, he will definitely have that ability to shake them up because they have good players but they are just low in confidence.
"They had a tough autumn series over here. The writing has been on the wall that at some point he would go back to that Australia job.
"He's a proud Australian, he's got a lot of history and heritage there. It's just happened a bit sooner than most had thought."
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No just because the personal is much better than last year. I've shown no antagonism of Crusader players, you must be confusing me with someone else.
I have critized Razor for picking players he knows occasionally?
I said I'm not surprised because of his style, he's more a grinder player like Cane, not going to show up on peoples radar until you see how bad the other choices are. This year players like Clarke have been on fire and just show a bit more.
Are you one of those posters continually taking it easy on Razor because he doesn't have his Crusaders stars available? Do you think the rugby world is going to up to him suddenly once Mo'unga returns? lol
Go to commentsJohn you have been beating this drum for a couple of years, if you get proven right get back to us.
The last recent and decent Aussie coach was Ewen McKenzie, he was undermined and forced out by a couple of slimy Aussie players who were given a free pass when they should have been disciplined.
So our history since McQueen is very checkered and it seems to make little difference whether we have an Aussie coach or a Kiwi coach. The players have been entitled for a long time and we had to hit bottom to get them back into reality and to stop thinking it is all about them.
Cheika was an OK coach but his 'go our and destroy the opposition' tactic worked for a while and then didn't.
Please give me a list of great Aussie coaches that I have missed.
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