Japan Coach Eddie Jones Is Back and Hopes to Again Torment the Wallabies

The Associated Press

11:14 JST, October 24, 2025

TOKYO (AP) — For the first time since he resigned as coach of Australia following the team’s disastrous 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign, Eddie Jones is back to face his old team.

And in his mind, now as coach of Japan, he hopes to again torment the Wallabies, who never made it out of the group stage in that tournament two years ago in France.

Japan has never beaten the Wallabies in six previous attempts, but Jones is still optimistic.

“I enjoy beating Australia — I coached against them 10 times for England (from 2015-2022) and beat them nine times,” Jones said ahead of Saturday’s match at Tokyo’s National Stadium. “Playing against your own country, there’s always a certain amount of different feeling involved in it, but it just brings out the extreme competitive spirit within yourself.”

Jones was born in Australia and his mother is Japanese. It’s his second time in charge of Japan and he’s also had two coaching stints with the Wallabies.

The 65-year-old Jones will face an overhauled Australia squad led by Nick Champion de Crespigny that will give Jones’ replacement, head coach Joe Schmidt, a chance to assess the Wallabies’ depth in the one-off test.

Champion de Crespigny, who will be playing his third test, will start as captain in a backrow featuring his Western Force teammate Carlo Tizzano and No. 8 Rob Valetini. Regular skipper Harry Wilson is on the bench as backrow cover.

Ex-All Blacks frontrower Aidan Ross was also included on the bench, giving him the chance to be just the fifth man to represent both Australia and New Zealand in test rugby.

Schmidt resisted pressure to bring Carter Gordon straight back into the match-day squad within weeks of returning from the National Rugby League, instead selecting Hamish Stewart as the backup flyhalf on the bench.

“It was great to get the group back together late last week in Sydney, and to welcome in a couple of new faces,” Schmidt said. “The players have acclimatized well here in Tokyo and the whole squad is conscious of the threat the Brave Blossoms pose. They play hard and fast and are very tough to beat, especially at home.”

The Wallabies lost their last match of the Rugby Championship to New Zealand 28-24 on Oct. 4, the All Blacks’ 11th win in a row over Australia.

Japan lost to Fiji in the final of the Pacific Nations Cup on Sept. 20 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

After the Japan match, the Wallabies will play tests against England in London on Nov. 1, Italy in Udine on Nov. 8, Ireland in Dublin on Nov. 15 and France in Paris on Nov. 22.

Jones has made six changes to his starting side from the Fiji match, including bringing 37-year-old Michael Leitch and Ben Gunter into the back row for the clash with his former team. Former skipper Leitch will line up at No. 8 to secure his 90th cap, while Gunter starts at blindside flanker, with Kanji Shimokawa on the open side.

Gunter is one of four Australia-raised players in the match-day squad, along with center Dylan Riley, lock Jack Cornelsen and replacement outside back Sam Greene.