Jones: We want to be the team everyone wants to watch

Japan head coach Eddie Jones faced the media for the first time since being handed a six-week suspension by the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) as he discussed his 35-man squad selection on Wednesday afternoon.

The former Wallabies head coach's suspension was lifted on 5 June but he still will miss the Brave Blossoms' opening Nations Championship game against Italy (4 July) following comments he made to an official during Japan u23’s trip to his homeland in April.

Jones opened today’s press conference with an apology for his behaviour which led to his former employers Rugby Australia lodging an official complaint to their Japanese counterparts.

“I’d like to apologise for disrespecting the game of rugby,” said Jones.

“I made a comment on the Australia tour because I felt my team was being unfairly treated. I will serve the game with greater respect in the future. I’ve moved on, I'm only worried about preparing the team for Italy.

“I made one comment to the referee, and I apologised to him after the game.” 

Jones was unhappy with a number of refereeing decisions which went against his young side and acknowledged his indiscretion.

“Like any game there’s decisions made, I felt the referee wasn't treating us fairly, I made a comment at half-time, I apologised immediately afterwards.

“I was asked to go back into the coaching box a couple of times. I apologise for the comment and again for bringing the game into disrepute.”

The former England head coach, whose contract runs until the end of the 2027 World Cup in Australia, revealed that - due to his ban from attending domestic club games - he was doing community work abroad during Sunday’s League One final.

“I couldn’t go to the League One final so I went to Singapore and did community work. I love the game of rugby so I kept working. It hasn’t affected the Italy game. On 19 June we start when the players come in. I’ve still done the preparation work.”

After answering a host of questions regarding his suspension, the official press conference regarding his national team and training camp selection started.

“It’s taken us 100 years to participate in a tier one tournament and it’s a great celebration this year,” said the three-time Six Nations winner as the JRFU celebrates its centenary year.

Jones wants his Brave Blossoms to capture the imagination of fans worldwide when they feature in the Nations Championship as he looked ahead to their opening game against Italy in Tokyo.

"We want to be the team of the tournament. We want to be the team that everyone wants to watch. We have two weeks to prepare for Italy. Italy are the most improved team in the world. Their work rate is higher than any other team off the ball.

“To beat Italy we’ll have to beat them with our work off the ball. That’s our challenge to get the team in tip condition over the next two weeks. Then we have a chance to beat Italy.”

Jones discussed a number of specific selections for his national team and additional 21-man training group.

On Saitama Wild Knights’ Australia-born lock Esei Ha'angana:

“His main position is lock, we feel he can also fit in at six. He’s got good work rate and great promise. I’ve watched him for a few years. He’s become eligible this year. I believe he can play a number of tests for Japan."

On the omission of Kubota Spears’ hulking prop Opeti Helu:

“We've had discussions with players not picked, they know what they need to do. We’re getting depth in position now and some good players get left out.

“Opeti has a lot of potential. There’s a backstory with Opeti that would be inappropriate for me to tell you. That makes it difficult for him to be picked at this time. He can scrummage well, he’s got a good carry and he really wants to play for Japan. We want players like that.”

On Kobe Steelers’ standout rookie Shunsuke Uenobo:

"Uenobo impressed us last year on the Japan u23 tour to Australia. He's made the transition to League One at Kobe very well. He's brave under the high ball. He's strong defensively. He's a really good young player."

On scrum-half Naoto Saito’s availability after his Top 14 season ends:

“Toulouse are hoping to make the Top 14 final, as soon as he plays, has a few nice glasses of red wine, he’ll be on he plane and he’ll join us.”

On the captaincy:

“We'll wait until we get the whole squad in before we make a decision about that. Warner Dearns has been absolutely outstanding in Super Rugby. He’s playing with good players, he’s in the strongest Super Rugby team and that’ll make him a better player.

“Michael Leitch doesn’t need to be the captain to be a leader. We’ll see what Warner is like when he comes back.”

On injured first-choice fly-half Lee Seung-sin:

“Lee probably needs an operation which will put him out of action for a while. We're looking for 10s who are really good at attacking the line. We want to play with tempo. When there’s chance to speed up the game that’s what we want to do. We’re looking for 10s who understand the flow of the game."

On Moana Pasifika hooker Mamoru Harada:

“Harada had a tough time in Super Rugby. He didn’t play much, he was in a team that struggled. Sometimes those difficult experiences are your best learning opportunities. He was already a tough player but now I expect him to be even tougher and to appreciate the great opportunity he has to play in Japan.

“He’s got fantastic competition from Hayate Era. When he's played he's made an impact for Kubota. Kenji Sato is a good runner with the ball and is good in broken play. They’re all good players and there’ll be strong competition.”

Stay tuned to RugbyJP.com for on-site coverage of Japan’s Nations Championship matches