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Sam Bruce, Deputy Editor, espn.com.au
Eddie Jones has given an insight into his overhaul of the Wallabies attack, revealing he is restructuring the team to play in true “Randwick” style as he also explained why he had brought Rugby World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Steve Hansen into Australia’s camp in France.
Hansen’s shock appearance at Wallabies training has been the talk of the rugby world in the build-up to the World Cup — along with Owen Farrell’s disciplinary hearings which on Tuesday resulted in a four-game ban on appeal — despite the Kiwi doing his best to quell fears in New Zealand he would be revealing some “trade secrets”.
“I know Eddie very well, and we talk often. He said, ‘can you spend some time with us’. I said ‘yep, no problem’,” Hansen told New Zealand podcast, The Platform.
“He is a man who brings a lot of people into his environment.
“Anybody who knows me knows I won’t be giving away any secrets about the All Blacks. You don’t spend 20 years of your life working with a team to give it all away.”
Hansen is not being paid for his “feedback” in France and will only spend a couple more days with the Wallabies before they take on France in Paris on Sunday night [AEST].
Jones relationship with Hansen goes back to the late 1990s when the duo was starting out in professional rugby at Super 12 level, while they most recently coached against one another in the Barbarians-World XV exhibition game in London in May.
Jones said Hansen had an eye for detail and that he would offer the Wallabies an independent pair of eyes that would assist the team’s coaching group before the World Cup gets underway next month.
“I’ve coached against Steve since 1998 so we’ve got a long relationship, enjoy each other’s company and I always had the thought we wanted this week to be a reset week for us,” Jones told reporters on Tuesday night [AEST] via Zoom.
“We’ve been through the Rugby Championship, done our Australian responsibilities and now it’s a reset so we’ve brought in Steve to have a look at what we’re doing.
“It’s purely like a mate having a beer (asking) what do you think? Where can we improve?
“We’ve also got Doug Lemov who we’ve used previously to help with the coaches improve their coaching.
“It’s a really important professional development time for us to just get a little bit better before we go into the World Cup.”
Pushed on what Hansen would be focusing on during his visit, Jones added: “There’s two main areas: there’s training quality, which is our way of improving. And leadership of the team. So Steve is having a look at both of those areas.
“Every time he speaks there is some wisdom is what he says. When he says something, we are listening to him and how we can improve what we are doing, we are looking to see if we can use his advice to do that.”
As Hansen himself confirmed on Tuesday in separate radio interviews, he will not be providing any insights into team tactics or how the Wallabies might be able to unlock some of the world’s best defences in Paris.
That responsibility is Jones’ and, newly-appointed attack coach Jason Ryles, who joined for his first session on Tuesday, with the Wallabies attempting to further build on the promise they showed in Bledisloe II.
Tries to Marika Koroibete and Tom Hooper within seven minutes of kick-off in Dunedin showcased a fluidity in the Wallabies attack that had been missing across the first three Tests of the year.
And Jones has now given an insight into exactly what he is trying to achieve and how he wants the Wallabies to play, the coach perhaps unsurprisingly attempting to get the team playing in the spirit of Sydney club, Randwick, where he played his rugby and which coincidentally will play in this weekend’s Shute Shield final.
Asked about whether Ben Donaldson, arguably the most controversial pick in the Wallabies’ 33-man World Cup squad, would be involved in the game against France, Jones explained how Australia were attempting to play.
“We’ve tried to restructure, we’re restructuring our attack to be much more, we want to play to play, rather than create points to play and what I mean is points on the field, which has been the Australian style,” Jones told reporters.
“So we’re going completely away from that and that suits his natural game. You know, coming out of Randwick that’s how we play, well that’s how Randwick play, a more natural style of game so I’ve been really impressed by what he’s doing.”
Ryles, meanwhile, has rejoined Jones after a short stint as England’s skills coach in 2020 while the Australian was in charge at Twickenham. Previously on virtual gardening leave as he waits to link up with Melbourne Storm in the NRL at the start of the preseason, Ryles now finds himself charged with adding additional elements to Australia’s approach.
“His job is just to add details of the attack,” Jones said of Ryles. “The philosophy of the attack and the strategy of the attack is my responsibility — it always has been.
“So his job is to add detail and even today, you know, first session out there, he’s now looking at the video looking to see how we can improve our running lines, our deception and our first phase play.”