A winless Eddie Jones reckons the Rugby Championship is “a glorified pre-season” for Australia, and all in preparation for the two-time world champions to peak at France 2023.

Jones is 0-2 since taking charge of the Wallabies for the second time at the start of the year, following consecutive defeats to South Africa and Argentina.

While the Wallabies managed to fix some aspects of their performance against Los Pumas after losing to the Springboks, they were found out in other areas.

Jones last week axed several players for Australia’s two Bledisloe Cup Tests against New Zealand – in Melbourne next Saturday, which doubles as a Rugby Championship match, and Dunedin a week later – as he looks to reinvigorate the Wallabies.

“We’re just getting ready. In a lot of ways, the Rugby Championship is a glorified pre-season for us. As much as we want to win, we’ve got to use it to experiment a bit because I’m still getting to know the players,” he told Sky Sports News.

“I’ve been working with the players, really had them for six training sessions; we’ve just got to keep finding out where we’re at and how we can put together the strongest team.

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“Australia’s a good tournament team. Look at their record at the World Cup. We do well in tournaments, and that history helps you.

“We’re a country that’s a small country, a long way from everywhere and sport’s important for us, and if our sporting teams can do well, it puts Australia on the map.”

He added: “I think in reality, we need to hit rock bottom and then bounce up. I was hoping that we could do an immediate rescue job. That’s not going to happen. We almost need to scrape at the bottom and start again to a large degree.

“There’s been a fairly big drop off in Australian rugby, so we’ve got to try to find a way to lift it up.

“I love the challenge of putting a team together and coming back to your own country. There’s no more pride than hopefully getting the Wallabies back playing well.”

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