Kurtley Beale will be 'influential' for Australia in future - Eddie Jones

England coach Eddie Jones believes utility back Kurtley Beale will be an influential player for Australia ahead of the Rugby Championship 2017 tournament.

The 28-year-old last featured for Australia in October 2015 and suffered a season-ending patella tendon injury during his last stint with Waratahs. After his brief stint with Wasps which was marred with another hamstring injury during the semi-final of the Aviva Premiership, Beale has returned back to Australia in a bid to resume his international career.

Beale had earlier said he wants to target the number 12 position in the upcoming Bledisloe Cup clash against All Blacks next month and Jones, who coached Wallabies between 2001 and 2005 believes he still has a lot to offer for his country.

"He is a brilliant player, Kurtley," Jones says.

"There is no doubt about that. He did well for Wasps.

"I think he has made a conscious decision to go back because he wants to play for the Wallabies … his role at 12 or 15 will be absolutely influential for the Wallabies game going forward."

Australia will face New Zealand in back-to-back games in the upcoming Rugby Championship and considering the recent form, Jones believes Wallabies will face an uphill task. However, Jones understands the squad selection of Michael Cheika, which was given more emphasis on performances in Super Rugby.

"He has tried to select on Super Rugby form, rewarded those guys that have been consistently good and probably left out a few guys who need to pick up their form a little bit," says Jones, speaking to Fairfax Media.

"If you were watching Super Rugby, it wouldn't come as a surprise," he says on Quade Cooper's exclusion.

"He was playing in a poor Reds side that struggled to get any sort of possession. It was difficult for Quade to play well."

The 57-year-old also admitted that the Super Rugby has seen a down-slide with New Zealand teams dominating their way as compared to the rest. Even in this season's tournament, the semi-final has three teams from New Zealand but Jones sees scope in improvement in the rest despite the slide.

"It's not great when you don't beat a New Zealand side, but these things can change round quickly," Jones says. "We have just seen South Africa … everyone was talking South Africa, that they are in a doom and gloom situation.

"The Lions and Stormers have come through [in Super Rugby and the Springboks] beat France 3-0 [in June].

"Australia is very similar … [there are] a lot of good players. It is just about getting them right, getting them mentally right, physically right. Cheika will make sure that happens."