Jones: the ‘power’ of Ireland forced Japan switch to Newcastle

Eddie Jones has claimed Ireland refused to travel to Japan for their Nations Cup fixture, forcing Japan to host the match in Newcastle, Australia, instead of Tokyo.

Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast, the Japan head coach was blunt about the circumstances behind the scheduling decision, saying Ireland’s influence at World Rugby left his team with no choice but to accept the arrangement.

“You know why we’re playing Ireland in Newcastle, mate?” Jones said. “Ireland have all the power at World Rugby. So we have to play our home game — that should be in Tokyo — in Australia, to make sure Ireland doesn’t have to travel too much. Let’s be frank about this.”

Jones said the decision was straightforward: Ireland told organisers they would not make the trip to Japan between fixtures in the southern hemisphere.

“Ireland said, we’re not going to Tokyo. We’re not going,” he said. “So we have to play in Newcastle. We just have to suck it up. And that’s what happens when you’re not a major political power at the table.”

When pressed on whether the arrangement was fair given that Japan was surrendering a home fixture, Jones was pragmatic but clearly frustrated.

“Japan, you want to be in the Nations Cup? Yes, of course we do. So you are going to use one of your home games to play in Australia,” he said, summarising the dynamic. “We’ve got to be grateful to be in the Nations Cup. That’s a huge honour for Japan. So we’ve got to accept there might be some inequalities in terms of the distribution of games.”

The match will be played at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, a venue that hosted an entertaining Wallabies–Fiji test last year and has an emerging rugby community in the Hunter Valley region. Jones noted with dry humour that the stadium’s naming rights sponsor, McDonald Jones, is part of a Japanese building company.

“The Japanese building company’s bringing out a hundred people. So at least we’ll have a hundred fans there,” he said.

Jones, who has been on an extended scouting tour of Australia ahead of Japan’s Nations Cup campaign, said his team faces a demanding schedule in which every opponent is ranked above them.

“Every side we play against is ranked ahead of us. So we’re going to find a way to play above ourselves,” he said.

Eddie Jones was speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast. The full episode is available on YouTube.