Eddie Jones has walked a fine disciplinary line throughout his decades in rugby and his acid tongue has landed him in trouble again.
The former Australia and England coach was suspended by the Japan Rugby Football Union for four games on Wednesday for “verbal abuse directed at local officials” during a recent Australia tour.
They also relieved the 66-year-old Australian head coach from all duties for six weeks and cut his pay.
It is the latest incident in Jones’ colourful and controversial career, which has seen him butt heads with officials, players, opponents and authorities the world over, while scoring some remarkable successes.
“He’s a master of the psychological part of player development and man-management,” England’s Ellis Genge said of his former coach in 2024.
“Sometimes he gets it wrong. There have been some nightmare stories of late about him. But he’s a good bloke. He’s a good guy.”
MORE: Eddie suspended after tirade
Jones accepted the JRFU’s punishment in a statement, acknowledging that “inappropriate remarks that I made caused discomfort to local match officials and other related parties”.
Detail and vision on the Eddie Jones ref abuse suspension from @tomdecent and me. 2023 vibes.
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How an RA complaint to Japan led to Eddie Jones being suspended for referee abusehttps://t.co/CLKJJUNLn0 pic.twitter.com/ZEb3e3EvfH— iainpayten (@iainpayten) May 14, 2026
Jones’ run-ins with authority and the media stretch back for almost as long as he has been in the game.
He was fined A$10,000 in 2007 for calling a referee’s performance “ludicrous” and “disgraceful” while in charge of the Queensland Reds.
The Tasmania-born coach is known as a hard taskmaster and his approach divided opinion during seven years in charge of England from 2015 to 2022.
In 2016, Jones guided England to a first Six Nations Grand Slam for 13 years and a 3-0 Test series sweep in Australia on the way to a perfect 13 wins that year.
He also oversaw England’s 2019 World Cup semi-final upset of the All Blacks before losing in the final to the Springboks.
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But his methods were slammed by former scrumhalf Danny Care in his 2024 autobiography, claiming Jones oversaw a “toxic” environment and acted like a “tyrant” and a “despot”.
He also took his native Australia to a home World Cup final in 2003, losing a thriller to Jonny Wilkinson’s extra-time drop goal. And he was a technical adviser when the Springboks lifted the trophy in 2007.
When Jones returned to coach the Wallabies in 2023 it heralded a disastrous 10-month spell that ended when they failed to get out of the World Cup pool stage for the first time.
The feisty coach repeatedly clashed with reporters, telling them to “go give yourselves uppercuts” when they questioned his selection of an inexperienced squad.
He returned to Japan, having masterminded the country’s groundbreaking win over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup, a feat immortalised in the 2019 movie “The Brighton Miracle”.
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Age has hardly mellowed him, and last month he launched a tirade against World Rugby for making Japan play a home Nations Championship game against Ireland in Australia.
“Ireland have all the power at World Rugby, so we have to play our home game, which should be in Tokyo, in Australia to make sure Ireland don’t have to travel too much,” he said on the Rugby Unity podcast. “We just have to suck it up.”
Jones has had mixed results back in charge with Japan, drawing a home Test series with Wales last year but also suffering heavy defeats to South Africa and Ireland.
– AFP
Photo: Koki Nagahama/Getty Images
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