The Japanese believe in onryō – malicious spirits who perished full of anger and then return to scare the living to death and steal their souls. The Wallabies face an onryō of sorts this weekend – their former coach Eddie Jones, who led them off a cliff at the 2023 World Cup and then abandoned them to coach Japan.
This will be the first time the Wallabies have faced off against their old mentor since he fled a five-year $5m contract just nine months into a quest to rebuild Australian rugby for home men’s and women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2029. Instead, Jones scarcely checked in on the Wallaroos and won two of his nine Tests as the Wallabies were eliminated in RWC pool stages for the first time.
Current coach Joe Schmidt has spent two years cleaning up the mess Jones left behind and has forbidden any talk of revenge in the lead-up to this Test. But the fans left feeling bewildered and betrayed by Jones have other ideas. Onryō are banished with fire and salt. And for plenty of Wallabies supporters only a thumping victory this Saturday will cleanse the wound of the Jones era.
While Jones remains unrepentant about his disastrous second stint at the helm of his home nation (his 2001-05 tenure yielded 33 wins from 57 Tests), he has praised Schmidt’s work this season. “What’s impressed everyone about Australia this year is their mental toughness – their ability to stay in the game and play good, intelligent rugby. They’ve done that in nearly every Test.”
Cue the ambush. “Japan has pace and power, a strong scrum and lineout and a slick backline with speed to burn,” says 59-Test great Simon Poidevin, a former teammate of Jones at Randwick. “Eddie has them tracking like 2015 when they upset the Springboks at the World Cup. These Brave Blossoms are going to cause a lot of upsets. The Wallabies will have to be very careful.”
Since taking charge in 2024, Jones has treated his squad like cherry blossom trees, grafting a host of international stars onto his indigenous stock. Australian-born players Ben Gunter, Dylan Riley and Sam Greene have all come in while New Zealand-born lock Warner Dearns – a 202cm, 124kg beast – has become the spearhead of a side getting bigger and better by the day.
“Eddie is on a mission to prove to the world that he’s still an elite coach,” says Poidevin. “He works players hard and gives them honest advice to make them better. Based on rankings and Australia A’s 71-7 demolition of Japan XV last week, we’re heavy favourites. But Japan is dangerous. The Wallabies need to win and win well. But if they go in with a loose attitude, they’ll get punished.”
Eddie Jones with his Wallabies during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP
Australia will be without a host of stars for this Spring Tour that next pits them against England, France, Ireland and Italy, all fresh and starting their seasons. Newly crowned John Eales medallist Len Ikitau, along with Tom Hooper, Will Skelton and James O’Connor are on club duties in Europe. James Slipper and Nic White have retired. And Tom Wright and Tate McDermott remain injured.
Yet, intriguingly, Schmidt will play double jeopardy against Jones’s world No 13. Having named 18 debutantes in his first season, the 60-year old continues to test depth in what is his final tour before protege Les Kiss takes over in 2026. Announcing a wildly revamped side on Thursday, Schmidt has kept most of his fatigued frontline stars on ice for Tokyo, saving them for the Europe leg.
But if revenge is a dish best served cold, the onryō are on alert. The Wallabies have lost their last three Tests and haven’t played in 13 days. Japan are full of fight after a narrow loss to Fiji at the Pacific Nations Cup and Jones, ever the warlord, will sniff an upset. He told the Rugby Unity podcast he plans to attack his home nation with everything, everywhere all at once.
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“I want to see our team tuck into them early, give ourselves a chance to win it and just hang in for as long as we can,” Jones said. “You go into every game wanting to win and you’re preparing to win, and if you don’t win it’s a failure. That’s the bottom line. We want to make sure at the start of the game we make a statement and at the end of the game we’re in with a chance to win.”
For all the risks in naming a second-string side, Schmidt has taken none with Carter Gordon. The gifted flyhalf – a junior prodigy who played eight Tests under Jones in 2023 – was parachuted into the Wallabies touring squad from the NRL last week but has been denied a shot at redemption against the puppetmaster who blooded and ultimately burned him at the 2023 World Cup.
After carrying the can for the Wallabies’ horror campaign, Gordon’s Super side, the Melbourne Rebels, went belly-up so he jumped ship to the NRL. But the onryō followed and a spinal fluid leak sadly left the 23-year-old bedridden for most of 2024. Ever-canny, ever-kind, Schmidt kept checking in and the curse lifted last week with his return to gold.
Gordon says he has “unfinished business”. Unfortunately, so does Jones.
AloJapan.com