Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has refused to ban his players from social media amid a scorching blowback after their World Cup defeat against Fiji which put their tournament campaign on the brink of disaster.
A day after apologizing and taking full responsibility for the island nation’s first defeat in almost 70 years, Jones said ‘these are the weeks you really remember’ as his side prepare for a clash essential against Wales to avoid a premature World Cup. Cutting output.
The Wallabies were ridiculed, criticized and even ridiculed following the limp defeat, their fifth defeat in six Tests since Jones took control of the team and vowed to make Australian rugby great again by taking a broom into the team and injecting new blood. .
His plans have backfired so far and Jones admitted he was “still looking for answers” to make the Wallabies the team he hoped they could be.
He insisted motivation was not a problem ahead of the clash against Wales, which Australia must win to have any chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
“I woke up this morning hoping the outcome would be different, but it was still the same,” Jones said.
“The only thing we’re worried about is Wales this week. We’d be happy to play them tomorrow if they were ready to play… we’re looking forward to the challenge.
“There is no problem with motivation. This team cares a lot about their performance.
The Wallabies were left shattered after defeat to Fiji (pictured) – but Jones refused to ban them from social media so they couldn’t see the waves of criticism coming.
The coach, under fire, admitted that one aspect of Fiji’s play had “shocked” his team at the start of the clash.
A positive for the Wallabies is a victory in the last clash against Wales in Cardiff last year.
But Jones said having their backs against the wall, once again, gave his players the chance to do something special.
“Those are the weeks you really remember, where you’re under the pump a lot and you have to produce a good performance,” he said.
“It’s probably one of the biggest challenges for this team and for the coaching staff, but we know how we want to play against Wales.
“We’re going to work really hard to get the players back on track, so to speak, because when you have a loss like this, it upsets you a little bit, it upsets you emotionally, it upsets the ethos of the team. team., you start to see shadows in every corner of the room, there is noise from outside that you have to deal with.
Wallabies prop Angus Bell’s body language spoke volumes on Monday – but Jones is adamant the team will respond to having their backs against the wall for the must-win clash against Wales.
“And that’s the challenge for the coaching staff this week to make sure they get the right noise.”
Jones said while there was plenty of criticism after the Fiji defeat, he did not need to tell his players to avoid outside noise, which would mean staying away from social media where abuse can be the worst.
“It’s an individual choice for each player,” he said.
“They make their own decisions about how they manage social media. It’s not our job to tell them how to do it.
“Everyone makes a choice about how they live their life. And for the players, it’s their choice.
Jones also defended the performance of rookie five-eighth Carter Gordon, who he replaced with 30 minutes remaining against France despite lacking a specialist reinforcement.
Carter Gordon (pictured running with the ball against Fiji) was harshly criticized for his poor performance in the defeat – but his manager defended the fly-half despite being benched.
“I don’t think there’s a team in the world that doesn’t target the opposition’s 10, so it’s a pretty normal practice,” he said.
“I don’t remember any team that didn’t do that. They are the key player, they are obviously the conductor of the team and if you can reach them, you will reach them.
“There are different ways to take care of your 10-year-old and we’ll think about that this week.”
Jones then identified the area where Fiji dominated his team: the breakdowns, where their opponents ambushed them with their power.
“We got beat pretty bad in this area,” he said.
“The weekend before against Georgia we were really, really good.
“I think from the start of the match we were a bit shocked by the physical intensity of the Fijians and that put us off playing a bit.”
The Wallabies have halfback Tate McDermott back for the Wales clash but will be without injured captain Will Skelton and star prop Taniela Tupou.
