Eddie Jones embraces reunion with Australia in Tokyo

Eddie Jones says facing his native Australia stirs his “extreme competitive spirit” as he prepares to lead Japan into a test match against the Wallabies in Tokyo.

Jones, who previously coached the England from 2015 to 2022 following a short stint with the Wallabies returned to Japan’s helm in 2024. He highlighted his dominant record against the Wallabies during his England tenure.

He claimed: “I coached against them 10 times for England and beat them nine times,” emphasising his confidence.

The 65-year-old said that this reunion match is not just symbolic but presents a genuine opportunity for Japan. He pointed out that Australia’s selection will feature many players fighting for starting places, and Japan’s own game-plan will be designed to apply pressure from the outset.

“When you’re playing your own country, there’s always a different feeling involved… it just brings out the extreme competitive spirit within yourself,” he said.

"We realise that it's a big task for us but we feel like we're up to it.

"We're ready to take them on."

Australia will face Japan before embarking on a European tour, with matches lined up against England, Italy, Ireland and France over consecutive weekends.

Japan XV: Yoshitaka Yazaki; Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Shogo Nakano, Tomoki Osada; Seungsin Lee, Shinobu Fujiwara; Michael Leitch, Kanji Shimokawa, Ben Gunter; Warner Dearns (capt), Jack Cornelsen; Shuhei Takeuchi, Hayate Era, Kenta Kobayashi

Reserves: Kenji Sato, Ryosuke Iwaihara, Keijiro Tamefusa, Tyler Paul, Tiennan Costley, Kenta Fukuda, Charlie Lawrence, Sam Greene