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Eddie Jones says 'I enjoy beating Australia' ahead of Tokyo reunion / Photo: Richard A. Brooks - AFP
NYSE - LSE
Eddie Jones says 'I enjoy beating Australia' ahead of Tokyo reunion
Eddie Jones said facing his native Australia brings out his "extreme competitive spirit" as the Japan coach plots a surprise win over his old team on Saturday in Tokyo.
Jones comes up against Australia for the first time since stepping down as Wallabies coach following their disastrous 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign to begin a second stint in charge of Japan.
The move sparked anger in Australia, after Jones had repeatedly denied reports that he was set to take the Japan job.
The 65-year-old has led teams against Australia in the past and enjoyed a successful head-to-head record during his time as England coach from 2015 to 2022.
Jones named his team on Thursday for the game at Tokyo's National Stadium and said he was looking forward to upsetting his countrymen again.
"I enjoy beating Australia -- I coached against them 10 times for England and beat them nine times," he said.
"Playing against you 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."
Australia play Japan before heading to Europe to take on England, Italy, Ireland and France on successive weekends.
Coach Joe Schmidt named his team to face Japan earlier in the day, with 13 changes from the side that lost to New Zealand in the Rugby Championship.
Jones said there was "a winning opportunity" for Japan if they can unsettle an unfamiliar Wallabies line-up.
"When you're playing a team that has got a lot of players that are playing for a spot and they want to be the starting guys, if things don't go their way at the start of the game, they can get frustrated," he said.
"Our job is to bring out that frustration. Our job is to be at them the whole time."
Jones handed veteran flanker Michael Leitch his 90th cap in a line-up that mixes experience with youth.
The coach said his team were planning to hit the Wallabies with "a Japanese style of rugby".
"We realise that it's a big task for us but we feel like we're up to it," he said.
"We're ready to take them on."
Japan (15-1):
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
Replacements: Kenji Sato, Ryosuke Iwaihara, Keijiro Tamefusa, Tyler Paul, Tiennan Costley, Kenta Fukuda, Charlie Lawrence, Sam Greene
M.Dodaro--INP
