Provocateur-supreme Jones returns to face his former England charges

LONDON, Nov 10 - Eddie Jones was a divisive figure in his controversial seven-year spell as England coach and can be expected to relish a role as provocateur when his Japan side play at Twickenham in the Nations Championship on Saturday.

Japan will be overwhelming underdogs against England but Jones has hinted he has a plan or two up his sleeve as he looks to spring a surprise.

"We’ll need to be able to break up the game, if we play an orthodox game of rugby, we’re probably going to struggle to beat them," the Australian said.

"And the English don’t react well to unorthodox rugby. We’ve got to think about how we can play quite unorthodoxly," said Jones after his side pushed Wales in Cardiff last Saturday.

It was the kind of mischievous quote that Jones has used before to wind up the opposition, although it will be nothing new to England.

"We're never sure what Eddie's going to throw at us, so we're looking forward to that challenge too," hooker Jamie George said after they overwhelmed Australia 45-22 on Sunday.

WORK PRAISED

George was a mainstay of the England squad when Jones was in charge from 2015 to 2022.

"Eddie did brilliant things for English rugby. We got to a World Cup final (in 2019) and we probably live with regret that we didn’t win that, a Grand Slam, a couple more Six Nations – that is the sign of a good coach to me."

The bad times have been well documented since Jones’ departure with accusations of an abrasive and uncompromising coaching style.

Former England scrumhalf Danny Care in his 2024 autobiography said Jones oversaw a "toxic" environment and acted like a "tyrant" and a "despot".

Others, however, saw him in a different light.

“He’s a master of the psychological part of player development and man-management,” prop Ellis Genge said in 2024.

NIGHTMARE STORIES

“Sometimes he gets it wrong. There have been some nightmare stories of late about him. But he’s a good bloke,” he said.

The 66-year-old Jones is in his second spell with Japan, having been the architect of one of the great World Cup upsets when they beat South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.

He has turned Japan, winners of this year’s Pacific Nations Cup over Fiji, into a more consistent outfit.

They beat Italy at the start of the Nations Championship in July and pushed Ireland close before coming within three points of upsetting Australia.

"I’m proud of my team. We had a particularly young team, some university students and one 10 playing his first test. But they stuck at it,” he said of the 27-21 defeat by Wales. REUTERS