Now aged 64, it would be easy to regard Eddie Jones as being in his rugby dotage. The famously workaholic coach is now back in Japan after two chastening experiences in the international game.
First, he was cut adrift from coaching England with the 2023 Rugby World Cup just around the corner after the RFU decided he would not be able to arrest a slump in results.
What followed was even more calamitous. Australia upturned their own pre-existing plans to install Jones as boss for last year’s World Cup in France.
It could not have gone much worse. The Wallabies crashed to their earliest ever World Cup exit, and the coach himself was set for another premature and unsightly departure, too.
When Jones then slipped away from the game’s top tier to head back to Japan, a country with which he is as intrinsically linked as any, it might have been assumed he was finally ready for the easy life.
That could not be further from the truth, according to a UAE-based coach who was invited to work with Jones in Japan for their summer Test series.
Rocky Truter, the former Dubai Hurricanes coach who is now with UAE Division 1 club Barrelhouse, was part of Jones’ back room staff in recent weeks.
His remit included being attack consultant for Japan’s matches against the New Zealand Maori, England, Georgia and Italy.
It is the fifth time Truter has worked with Jones. It follows two previous stints when he was with England, one in Australia and one at Suntory, the Japanese club with which Jones has maintained a connection throughout the majority of his storied career.
Truter is sure about one thing, judged by his experiences in recent weeks: time and experience has done nothing to wither Jones’ competitiveness. In fact, he says, his desire to get better is “burning stronger than ever”.
“Eddie will always be intense,” Truter said. “When speaking to some Japanese players from his previous time coaching Japan, they say he is more relaxed now.
“When I asked current players if this is relaxed compared to the League One [top division of Japan domestic rugby] club training, they very quickly assured me this environment is much more intense.
“Eddie is awake very early and you can expect your phone to have a question or opinion at around 4am. You can also expect some great chat at breakfast about some sort of league team that played last night that I have never even heard about.
“Eddie loves watching league. It might be safe to say the fire is burning stronger than ever. He loves coaching these Japanese players and he really wants them to do well. The target is to make the top four at the next World Cup.”
Jones has a Japanese mother, and has often worked in the country since his first coaching involvement with Suntory in 1997.
Despite that, in his autobiography Jones says he only has a rudimentary grasp of the language. Truter said the coach knows far more than he lets on, and that foreign coaches are well supported in the national team set up anyway.
“We have two full-time translators around the team, at training, in meetings, game day and even on socials,” said Truter, who was making his third trip to Japan.
“There are many foreign players in the team, but they have all come through the very good Japanese university rugby programmes, and mostly speak fluent Japanese. The translators are more for the coaches.
“Eddie switches from English to Japanese every now and then. In his next book he might have a chapter or two in Japanese.”
Truter’s role within Japan’s staff had a specific focus on the tactics around kick receipts. He says, though, that much of the knowledge he gained was from working with defence coach Victor Matfield, the South Africa great.
“Each camp is different and each camp I realise how much I have grown as a coach in my contributions and feedback,” he said.
“It helps me to stay on top of my game and ahead of the trends as each camp I work in a different environment with world-class coaches.
“They all have different opinions of the game, and the rules constantly change so coaches also have to adapt.”
Truter hopes he can bring the benefit of his experience with Jones to bear in UAE rugby. Initially, that is in the club game, but he is also hopeful to be able to help out Apollo Perelini and Jacques Benade with the national team in the future.
The UAE side hit a new peak earlier this summer when they finished second in the Asian Rugby Championship (ARC) for the first time, behind champions Hong Kong.
Next year they will be focused on World Cup qualification, and Truter wants to offer his help for that campaign.
“For now I am focused on coaching Barrelhouse men’s team and the academy boys and girls really well when we start again in September,” Truter said.
“I want to improve them with each session. I also have a very strong passion for coaching the UAE team.
“I think there is a lot of potential in the UAE team and no reason why they can’t go one better in the [ARC] and beat Hong Kong. Until that opportunity comes, I will keep my head down and keep coaching hard.”
