Eddie Jones everywhere at once
Either way, the leak contains intriguing elements. Jones was obviously influenced by the work of his former prop Ben Darwin, who believes teams that play together regularly perform better than teams drawn from multiple sources. In his leaked page, Jones picked nine brumbies and six waratahs, including 18-year-old prodigy Max Jorgensen. No one else.
Max Jorgensen scored two tries in his super rugby debut.Credit:Getty
The Queensland Reds missed it despite wanting to destroy Western Force 71-20 right in front of his eyes. So did the Melbourne Rebels and the Force. OK, their players populated his B-Team – along with more Brumbies and more Waratahs – but the obvious lesson is that Jones wants to keep his selection narrow, consistent with the successful 1991 (NSW and Queensland) and 1999 (Queensland and brumbies). won the world championship.
And what better way to send a blameless message that these three franchises need to take the lead.
Once again, Jones increased viewership. The Rebels, who believe their narrow loss to the Hurricanes was more worthy than NSW’s slurred win over the Fiji Drua, will get their chance against the Tahs on Friday night. The following night it’s the big one: Brumbies v Reds in Canberra. A team vs B team. Nic White (and certainly Ryan Lonergan) versus Tate McDermott; Noah Lolesio vs. Tom Lynagh; Rob Valetini vs. Harry Wilson; Len Ikitau vs. Josh Flook; Tom Wright vs. Jordan Petaia.
Speaking of the Valetini-Harris duel – which was made considerably more difficult by Langi Gleeson’s stellar performance for the Tahs – Jones has shown welcome flexibility by choosing Valetini in the same position he held during the Brumbies’ epic 25-20 win over the Blues , blindside runaway.
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With rare exceptions, Rennie only saw Valetini as No. 8, effectively finishing with Wilson as well. But Jones has opened the door to a Wilson-Michael Hooper, Valetini test in the back row. He further complicated matters by adding Reds co-captain Liam Wright as an option at six with the Tahs’ Jed Holloway as a floater.
It’s about to get very interesting. But as the moment inevitably approaches when Jones must truly choose a side, his days of being as popular as Ealesy are coming to an end.
Check out all the action from the Super Rugby Pacific stream ad-free, live and on-demand at every game Stan sports It starts on Friday February 17th.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/eddie-jones-everywhere-all-at-once-how-wallabies-coach-became-a-media-master-20230307-p5cpyf.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_sport Eddie Jones everywhere at once
