French star turned down my Wallabies approach – Eddie Jones

Japan head coach Eddie Jones has revealed that French star Emmanuel Meafou turned down an approach to represent the Wallabies during the Australian’s short-lived second stint in charge of his country.

Jones, 66, tried to entice the then-uncapped New Zealand-born lock Emmanuel Meafou, who grew up in Australia, to represent the Wallabies when he was reappointed to the Wallabies hotseat in 2023 for their ill-fated World Cup campaign.

Meafou was already a starter at Top 14 giants Toulouse when the former England head coach approached him having left Shute Shield side Warringah to join the French club’s academy in 2018.

The 6ft 8in, 22-stone lock starts for Fabien Galthié’s Six Nations winners as the Brave Blossoms host the world number four side at Tokyo’s MUFG Stadium (National Stadium) in an intriguing third round Nations Championship clash on Saturday.

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Two-time Six Nations winner and multiple-time Top 14 champion Meafou keeps his starting spot after a mixed outing in the win against Australia which saw him open the scoring after two minutes and receive a yellow card on the 24-minute mark before being replaced after 52 minutes.

“The player that interests me is Emmanuel Meafou,” said Jones in his online press conference on Thursday morning.

“When he was about to qualify for France (on residency grounds) I was the Wallabies coach and I gave him a ring to ask him to play for us.

“He said he had a great opportunity in France thanks to Toulouse and was already embedded in the French system.”

Meafou, who will partner Montpellier’s Florian Verhaeghe in the visitors’ second-row, will win his 18th cap for his adopted country against Japan having made his Test rugby debut in the 2024 Six Nations against Wales.

Jones, who returned to full coaching duties in the 36-20 loss to Ireland after completing his four-match suspension, added: “Having watched him play as a traditional right hand lock, he’s a heavy carrier.

“When they start coming around the rucks he’s someone we need to look after.”

© Toulouse

Tinkerman Jones added his thoughts on the stern challenge provided by their 2027 World Cup opponents who the Brave Blossoms have never beaten (seven defeats, one draw). "You want stability but you always want competition for places. It’s good to build a team around a core of 7-8 players and then to have rotation and competition for the rest of the places.

"Playing France is a bit of a different game. It’s 8v8 and then a backs contest. We’ve picked a bigger back-row this week. We expect it to be hot and humid with possibly rain. We think we’ve picked a team who can do a job for us

"This has got no bearing on our World Cup match. This is the Nations Championship. It’s a completely different game."