Publications
Partners
Cape Town - England head coach Eddie Jones believes outgoing Wallabies coach Michael Cheika will bounce back despite his recent resignation.
Jones masterminded the Wallabies’ exit from the Rugby World Cup which brought an end to Cheika’s five-year tenure as the two-time world champions’ head coach.
Cheika has been criticised following his team’s 40-16 defeat to England, which resulted in him stepping down from his position.
Jones and Cheika have a long history, which goes back to their time at Sydney’s Randwick club, and the England mentor was full of praise for his former club-mate.
“It’s never pleasant when you lose your job – it’s tough, there are various comments made, I do feel for him personally,” said Jones.
“He’s put some pride back into Australia rugby. We all make mistakes and do silly things, he’s just human. He’s given that job all he can and he got Australia out of a difficult situation and got them to a World Cup final in 2015 and I’m sure he will rise again as a coach.”
Jones also avoided questions about whether he would consider a return Australia to take over the Wallabies coaching job. He was in charge of their team when they lost the 2003 World Cup final to England in Australia.
“Don’t think that’s really a question for today – I’m only really worried about a pretty important game,” said Jones in reference to England’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Yokohama on Saturday.
