Aussie coach says Springboks are ‘the perfect picture of how we should live’

South African rugby has got an unexpected thumbs-up from one of its most tenacious rivals, former Australian coach Eddie Jones, who says the Springboks are more than just a team – they also portray “the perfect picture of how we should live our lives”.

In an interview with RugbyPass TV, Jones – who is now the head coach of the Japanese national rugby team – said the Springbok approach to the game – and life – was personified by Bok wing Cheslin Kolbe, with whom he worked briefly at a Japanese club.

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Kolbe now plays for Tokyo Sungoliath in the Japanese league. The Stormers player had impressed him, said Jones, because, even after the World Cup Springbok victory – when a player would be “entitled to take it easy” – Kolbe was “last off the field” and “trains 100%”.

Meticulous and understanding

Kolbe, he added, “helps all the young guys” and is “meticulous in his skills work”. Seeing Kolbe, said Jones, made him “understand how they [the Boks] have been so successful”.

But, it was in his broader philosophical assessment of the SA national team that Jones had some interesting comments to make.

The Springboks, he said, had changed, from “being almost the Afrikaans side” to one where there was “a natural mix of Afrikaans, English South Africans, players from the Cape, black players” and they had “all become one team now”.

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He went on: “It’s almost a perfect picture of how we should live our lives you know, it doesn’t matter where you come from, just get on with it. There’s a purpose there, let’s do it as well as we can.” Jones said, though, that he still wasn’t sure where the inspiration for the Springbok transformation had come from, although he did acknowledge that coach Rassie Erasmus had played a major role.

He also praised the way SA rugby has been bringing players through the system, singling out Craven Week as playing a major role in nurturing young talent.

He said the story of how SA rugby has changed was “one of the most interesting in sport”, noting that “they have such incredible belief in themselves”… and that explains why they won back-toback Rugby World Cups in 2019 and last year.