Eddie Jones says the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup rags-to-riches story under Rassie Erasmus is proof that Australia can still be among the title favourites at this year’s global showpiece.
Jones, who was appointed the new Wallabies boss in January, is clearly still in awe of how South Africa went from getting written off as contenders in 2018, to beating his more-fancied England side to lift the Webb Ellis Cup a year later.
The Boks’ remarkable turnaround was largely attributed to Erasmus, whose successor Jacques Nienaber will pit himself against Jones when the world champions kick off the international season on Saturday, 8 July, with their opening Rugby Championship Test against the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
“The only thing I’m thinking about is the next nine and a half months, because in reality what I can control is to get the team ready firstly for the Rugby Championship and the Bledisloe Cup and then to the World Cup,” Jones told Newstalk ZB.
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“If you look at the history of the World Cup, I think one of the interesting things is what South Africa did last in the last World Cup. In 2018, they were a bit of a mess, winning it under 40 percent.
“There was great disgruntlement with the way they were playing and Rassie Erasmus comes in and basically goes back to traditional Springboks rugby and they win the World Cup.
“So, there’s no reason why we can’t do that. There’s enough talented players here, no doubt about it mate.”
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He added: “Like any country we might be skinny in one or two positions. You look at Ireland, the best team in the world at the moment, but they lose Johnny Sexton and are they the best team in the world? And that’s a completely centrally contracted country.
“We’ve got some depth problems, there’s no doubt about it, but I think we’ve got enough talented players and I think under Dave [Rennie] the team has shown that they can compete with anyone in the world — take an Ireland to three points, France to three points, drawn with New Zealand, beaten South Africa.
“So, the track record is there. What the teams are unable to do is to do that with any of the consistency and to win a World Cup, you got to win seven in a row.”
Photo: Gallo Images/Steve Haag