Australian rugby is suffering its darkest day with the Wallabies set to crash out of the World Cup following a record loss while Eddie Jones’s future as coach is under a huge cloud.
The Wallabies hit a new low under Jones in Lyon, thrashed 40-6 by Wales, their biggest defeat in tournament history.
The Australians needed victory over their unbeaten pool rivals on Sunday (Monday AEST) but instead are set to miss the quarter-finals for the first time, heading home before many fans have even arrived in France.
The embarrassing defeat capped a dramatic day with a report emerging that Jones had already interviewed for the Japan coaching role with an eye on departing the Australian set-up despite having four years to run on his contract.
Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh said Jones had denied he was in talks with Japan.
Asked about the alleged Japan interview post-match Jones said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, insisting he was 100 per cent committed to his job.
Jones insisted he was still the right man for the Wallabies job although he admitted it would be for others to decide.
“I think I’ve got I’ve got the ability to turn things around and I was hoping we were going to do it by now and we haven’t been able to,” he said.
“I take full responsibility for it, I haven’t done a good enough job and I’m bloody disappointed about that.
“I’ve got a contract but obviously at the end of the World Cup everyone does a review of performance and my performance will be reviewed and at the moment it’s not good enough.”
Jones apologised to Australian supporters and said his young team were shattered by the loss, with some in tears after fulltime.
“We’ve got a young team and they’re very disappointed, they tries their hearts out but at the moment we just don’t have the consistency in our play to put pressure on teams like Wales,” Jones said.
The Wallabies were looking to rebound from their ugly defeat by Fiji in their last pool game but were again let down by poor decision-making and ill-discipline, racking up 12 penalties for the night.
It was highlighted by a bizarre decision not to take a penalty kick from in front of the posts which would have closed the gap to 9-10 and instead opted for a line-out, which they lost.
Welsh flanker Jac Morgan grabbed the loose ball and booted a 50-22 and then the Wallabies gave away a penalty themselves, with Gareth Anscombe slotting a penalty for his team to lead 13-6.
Anscombe replaced star Welsh play-maker Dan Biggar, who was forced off after 12 minutes with a pectoral injury, and finished with a personal points tally of 23 points, including six penalty goals.
The Australians got off to the worst possible start, with Gareth Davies scoring after three minutes after a break by flanker Jac Morgan.
Anscombe kept the scoreboard ticking over for Wales to take a 16-6 lead into halftime.
Halfback Tate McDermott did his best to spark the attack but the combination with new five-eighth Ben Donaldson didn’t really click while Australia’s set-piece failed to fire, particularly in the second half.
The death knell sounded for the men in gold in thr 47th minute when Anscombe noticed the Wallabies had no-one defending at fullback and chipped over the top for centre Nick Tompkins to score.
Wales continued the onslaught amid 33 unanswered points to lock in their play-off berth.
The Wallabies still have one more pool match to play against Portugal in Saint-Etienne next week and barring a miracle that requires Fiji to lose both their remaining games without bonus points against Georgia and Portugal and they will bow out.
By Melissa Woods in Lyon
