Bitter Australian Rugby Union boss John O’Neill today slammed former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones for helping Jake White with the Springboks’ World Cup preparations.
“It’s not something you would expect of a former Australian coach,” moaned O’Neill to the Daily Telegraph.
“He would argue, ‘I’m a professional coach’. I would just put a caveat in there that you’ve got to be a bit more discerning.
“In a sense it tells you the game has changed and coaches will take on jobs driven by other motives other than loyalty and patriotism.
“This is a quite definitive eyes-wide-open move by Eddie to go and advise the Springboks, amongst other things, on how to beat the Wallabies.
“I’m not sure whether Eddie’s going to be able to offer any particularly useful insights and the combination of Jake White and Eddie Jones is certainly interesting – Sideshow Bob (White) and the Beaver (Jones).
“I found it a bit amusing to tell the truth,” said O’Neill.
Eddie Jones hit back at the accusations saying,
“John is entitled to his opinion, but it’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
“He went from being the CEO of Australian rugby to being the CEO of Australian soccer, which is a direct competitor. That was OK in his eyes.
“It’s a long time since I’ve coached Australia. I’ve moved on. I don’t have any insights into the Wallabies. I haven’t been involved with them since November 2005.
“The game we played then is different to the game they play now,” concluded Jones.
As SA supporters we used to admire the professionalism of the Oz and NZ administrations. Always working in the background, creating a great environment for the players. Now this O’Neill is running his mouth at every opportunity and making them look just as bad as we know SARU is.