England boss Eddie Jones got over World Cup heartbreak by jetting off to tropical Japanese hideaway
EDDIE JONES got over his World Cup heartbreak by jetting to a blissful tropical island.
But the England boss’ life was far from a beach on the remote Okinawa hideaway as he signed-up for a gruelling bootcamp with his wife.
The Japanese retreat is a three-hour flight from Tokyo - but worlds away from the mainland where England lost the World Cup final to South Africa two months ago today.
And the Pacific paradise proved to be the perfect reboot for the workaholic, who wakes up at 4am and spends hours plotting England’s path to greatness.
The refreshed Aussie said: “I had three weeks in Japan, of which one week I didn’t do any rugby at all, which is a little bit unusual.
“Then I was ready to go again. It’s probably the longest I’ve gone without rugby.
“My wife and I did CrossFit [a fitness programme] three times a day for five days.
“It’s ridiculous at our age. It was a bit of a cleansing then I came back and was ready to go. Rip in.
“You don’t have to think. You just get in there. I love being a 60-year-old competing against 40-year-olds, seeing if I can beat them. I started last and got into the middle of the class by the end.”
Jones’ favourite exercise was the "thruster", which involves squatting with a loaded barbell and then lifting it above your head.
You go through a grieving period for a World Cup. Listening to Clive, he said he went and locked himself in a room for three days.
Eddie Jones
It might seem like a strange way of working away a World Cup hangover but Jones admitted he could not do what previous England coaches have done.
Clive Woodward told him how he had dealt with the failure of the 1999 tournament and the 2005 Lions tour.
Jones said: “You go through a grieving period for a World Cup. Listening to Clive, he said he went and locked himself in a room for three days.
“My wife would kick me out of bed. I can’t do it, mate.
“For me, it was about getting back to work. Getting back into it - and I was excited by seeing players like George Furbank.”
Full-back Furbank makes his debut in Le Crunch against France on Sunday afternoon. And it is guys like the Northampton star who Jones reckons can help elevate England’s game at this Six Nations.
He said: “You look at World Cup finalists - they’ve got terrible records for the next four years and they all end up getting knocked out in the quarter-final.
“When you’ve made the final, you don’t want to look into everything and tear everything apart because you think you’ve done pretty well.
Everyone can one have one great game but it is the ability to find a way to keep doing it. We want to see that in the France game.
Eddie Jones
“I’m proud of what we did. I look at our Test record and it’s very good - but we want to go to the next level.”
Masterminding the demolition of the All Blacks on the way to the Japan 2019 final is recognised as the greatest performance of any rugby side.
Replicating that night is a huge ask but Jones’ ambition is to topple New Zealand as the world powerhouse.
He added: “That is what we have to build towards. The hallmark of New Zealand’s greatness is their sustainability and consistency.
“Everyone can one have one great game but it is the ability to find a way to keep doing it. We want to see that in the France game.
“The big difference with the All Blacks is that they cope with that pressure of expectation and it became something they enjoyed having. Historically, that is something we haven’t coped well with so that’s one of the next steps.”
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France have picked an inexperienced side as they try to create a team that can win their home World Cup in 2023.
On their day, Les Bleus can shock the world - they hammered England at the breakdown here last time out in 2018.
Jones said: “They are still capable of that because they have a great feel for the game. When the game breaks up, they’re better than anyone at capitalising on that.”
