An offensive comment made by Eddie Jones about Wales came back to bite him after the Wallabies were hammered by the Dragons and needed a miracle to avoid being knocked out of the World Cup.
Jones found himself in hot water in 2018 when a video emerged of himself referring to Wales as a “shit little place” – and Welsh rugby fans were quick to reminding the Wallabies coach of his comments after the Australians were crushed 40-6 in Lyon.
The video recorded in 2017, when Jones was coaching England, shows him giving a speech on leadership for Fuso, the Japanese parent company of then-England sponsor Mitsubishi.
Jones calls the Irish “filthy”, then insults the Welsh by talking about their defeat while he was coaching the Japanese national team.
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“Is there anyone from Wales here?” he asks the audience.
“So it’s this shitty little place with three million people. Three million! Japan has 125 million inhabitants.
“So Japan is the size of this table, and this is Wales (holding up a glass of water).”
Jones apologized for his offensive comments in 2018 and admitted his choice of words during the interview was inexcusable, saying he was “truly sorry.”
After the Australians’ humiliating 40-6 defeat to Wales in Lyon on Monday, some Welsh fans chose to remind Jones of his earlier remarks.
“Hey Eddie, congratulations on your convict colony getting screwed by a crappy little place.” Enjoy the flight home mate,’ one Welsh X user wrote.
Welsh rugby fans were quick to call out Jones for his offensive comments after the Wallabies were hammered by their team (pictured, Australian stars dejected after defeat)
Jones apologized for remarks he made in 2018, calling his choice of words inexcusable
Another commented: “He called Wales a ‘shit little place’ so no sympathy.” Glad to see the smile wiped off his face. It’s just a game but it’s good to win.
Meanwhile, Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper also came to the coach’s defence, telling Stan Sport: “A lot of (criticism) is going to be aimed at Eddie, and maybe there’s some fairness in there.
“But I’ve been in the camp. No one is up more hours than Eddie. Eddie is up until 11 p.m. thinking about how to improve the Wallabies team, and he wakes up at 3 a.m. to respond to messages.
“This guy has no shortage of desire to make this team the best it can be. People will be criticized – players first, coaches, coaching staff, the wider rugby community – but let’s put an end to Eddie.
He added: “The players, the coaches, they put their a**s on the line…Let’s not make fun of this guy.”
But another excluded player – five-eighth Bernard Foley – appeared to hit out at Jones when he tweeted: “It didn’t have to be like this.
“The players have always participated.”
The Wallabies play their final World Cup match against Portugal next Sunday (Monday 2:45am AEST).
