Eddie Jones: “Excluding the World Cup and Top 14, rugby today is not financially sustainable without extra money”

Never banal Eddie Jones: during a long interview with Planet Rugby the Japan coach addressed various topics, from the need to change after the bad 2023 with Australia to the desire to restart a great cycle with the Brave Blossoms, up to a broader discussion on the economic sustainability of current rugby. Precisely on this, Jones was clear: “The truth is that outside the Top 14 and the Rugby World Cup, rugby is not a sustainable product without external investment.”

“True, the interest and enthusiasm for rugby is increasing, both at a female level and from the point of view of inclusiveness with the Bingham Cup, and it is returning to being a sport for everyone, but the truth is that in its Rugby in its current form is not financially sustainable. Super Rugby is going bankrupt, the Premiership is an excellent product but it still relies on external funding and we know the problems they have had with the failures of the clubs in 2022-23″ continued Eddie Jones, who then also spoke about the Japanese championship, not without problems.

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“Japan Rugby League One is subsidized by big companies. But extra money doesn’t solve the problems, it just puts a plaster on until the wound reappears again” said Jones: “League One in itself is a contradiction. The level has definitely improved and the top four teams would be competitive in Super Rugby. Maybe in the northern hemisphere the static phases would still be a problem for them, but they are good teams. The contradiction lies in the fact that only 53% of the players are Japanese. This is one of the problems of a young professional league. Simply put, we need to strengthen our stock of nationally qualified players,” confirmed Jones.

The coach then recalled that a process of generational change will be necessary to replicate the glories of the 2015-2019 period: “We need to replace some icons of the game, for example Michael Leitch, who was one of the pioneers of the Japanese rugby revolution that took place in 2015 to 2019. In those years Japan went from being the joke of the whole world to being a top team on the world scene.”

“In the 2015 and 2019 World Cup groups, Japan won a total of 7 out of 8 matches (in 2015 they went out of the groups due to points difference despite 3 victories, ed.) and of course Leitch was one of the main driving forces. He had an uncanny ability to capture hearts and minds both on and off the pitch. Now we need to bring in some youngsters and in the meantime, while he’s still around, they can learn from Leitch. We have young people destined to do many things, I’m thinking of Takuma Motohashi, a really powerful second/third line.”

To make it improve, however, the youth development system will also need to change: “League One receives massive funding from some of the largest multinationals in the world, so it enjoys a fair amount of economic stability, but under League One we have a fairly traditional system similar to the Americans: you play in high school, then you play four years of university and then you go to a professional team. So we don’t have any high level development system between senior school and League One and the younger players may miss out on some key development programmes, but we’re getting there and understanding what needs to be done, which is key,” he said. Jones explained.

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