According to the great Kiwi rugby league leader, Graham
Lowe, there are two types of coaches – those who’ve been sacked and those who are
waiting to be sacked. After tomorrow’s
Wallabies v Springboks Test, Eddie Jones looks like being in the latter camp
for just one more game.
Jones has been notably fortunate two and a half times in his
national coaching career. The first was the great performance by the Wallabies
in the last two games of the Rugby World Cup in 2003. That extended his
contract. The second is that there’s not another Australian coach with enough
experience or achievement to be knocking hard on the ARU’s door. That fact has kept
his extended contract in place.

The “half” is the media focus on Wallaby captain George
Gregan. The pack (the media, not the forwards) is concentrating on deposing the
skipper for being less than flash on the field instead of targeting the man
responsible for the team falling two years behind the Tri-Nations tactical
pace, never mind Australia’s
miserable game plan in the last four tests.

Jones has been copping the question about his future since
returning from South Africa
and has neatly sidestepped it by saying that it was up to his employers. Well, we
all know the value of sports administrators saying they have full confidence in
a coach…

There have been plenty of suggestions in the fish wrappers
about where Jones is failing, but they miss the main one: the Wallabies are
trying to play the same sort of rugby that took them to the World Cup final in
2003 when the All Blacks and South
Africa have moved on.

Line breaks have become rare things in these days of
professional defense, which makes it paramount to make the most of them. The
All Blacks and now the Springboks want to avoid any breakdown after a break
with the runner looking to unload in or before the final tackle, seeking a
change of angle, or at least attempting to immediately pop it up from the deck.

Not the Wallabies. Time and again, breaks and half-breaks end
with the ball carrier doggedly going to ground to set up a ruck, thus
losing
moments and momentum. No quick ball here – it really does look like
League. Of course, it’s not fair to just blame the coach for losses,
but Eddie has blamed the players too often without doing anything to
fix the
problem. As for the way the Wallabies played to their own greatest
weakness
in South Africa
– the lineout – well, it’s just too painful for even an old mediocre
second
rower to go there.

It is one of Rugby’s
saving graces than anything always remains possible. The slew of injuries ahead
of tomorrow’s game mean there’s a very different team with not much to lose by
trying something just a little different, but this morning’s comments by Jones
in the SMH don’t point in that direction.

The SMH tipping panel votes 8 – 3 for the Springboks to win
tomorrow – and the three hold the bottom
three places on the tipping ladder. With the All Blacks massively odds-on to beat us in Auckland
to complete our Tri-Nations, the Wallabies are contemplating five losses in a row. And a new coach.