Former Test five-eighth Berrick Barnes is in talks to reunite with his first professional rugby coach as a star addition to the Wallabies’ backroom staff, while former attack coach Scott Wisemantel has agreed to help out his old boss Eddie Jones.
Barnes is believed to be in discussions about a skills and kicking role with the Wallabies and Super Rugby clubs, similar to the one he recently took on as a consultant to Newcastle in the NRL.
The 51-Test playmaker, who played almost 50 games for both the Reds and Waratahs before moving to Japan to play under Robbie Deans with Panasonic for five years, met with Jones 10 days ago.
Barnes is close to Wisemantel, with both men based at Lennox Head in northern NSW and regular sightings at the local rugby club.
Wisemantel, too, has agreed to help the Wallabies as a consultant, but has no plans to return full time to the program he left, citing family reasons, last year. The 52-year-old was Jones’s attack coach with England and was instrumental, along with then-forwards coach Steve Borthwick, in England’s steamrolling path to the 2019 World Cup final.
He then lent his services to the Wallabies under Dave Rennie and is not interested in a formal return, but has offered to lend his expert eye and judgement to Jones whenever he is called upon. It is half a win for the Wallabies coach, who has tried hard to convince his former colleague to step back into the fray.
Eddie Jones, centre, will look to Scott Wisemantel and Berrick Barnes for help at the Wallabies.Credit:Getty
Elsewhere, Jones revealed he would bring in former AFL coach Neil Craig, a longtime advisor he put in charge of high performance when he joined England.
He is yet to announce the rest of his coaching structure, but is hopeful forwards coach Dan McKellar will see out the World Cup with the Wallabies before looking for head coaching opportunities elsewhere. McKellar is in the mix to replace Borthwick at UK Premiership side Leicester, reportedly shortlisted by the top English club.
Jones is also finalising his plans for the Wallabies’ schedule this year, with Sanctuary Cove set to become the team’s regular home base for mid-season camps.
The squad will assemble there in April for a short camp – for which Jones will select his first extended squad as Wallabies coach – and again in October for the Rugby Championship bye week before the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Melbourne.
Jones said he wanted the team to head to Melbourne to enjoy the Test build up, a change from the Rennie-era Wallabies, who flew in and out of host cities on the Thursday or Friday before matches.
“You’re one of the major sporting events in a major sporting city so it will be different for the players but I’m sure they’ll adjust very quickly,” he told his eponymous podcast, Eddie.
It is a shortened Rugby Championship before the World Cup. The Wallabies open their campaign against the Springboks at altitude in Pretoria on July 9, then race home to face the Michael Cheika-coached Pumas in Sydney.
Randwick sources indicated that Jones had secured the use of Coogee Oval – a favourite training venue and base for both he and Cheika – in the lead up to the Test at Accor Stadium on July 15, potentially leaving Argentina to take up residence in Manly, the Sydney CBD or closer to the ground in western Sydney. The State of Origin decider will be played at Accor on the Wednesday of that week, impacting training ground, gym and accommodation options for both teams.
They have a week off before the first Test against the All Blacks, then fly to Dunedin, a ground at which Jones has never coached, for the return fixture on July 29.
The group will likely enjoy a week off before Jones unveils his World Cup squad, taking them to France early for a warm-up match against Les Bleus.
“That’s not so much about playing against France, it’s about getting ready for the first game of the World Cup, which is against Georgia,” he said.
“We’ve got nine-and-a-half months, no one expects us to win the World Cup, so we can be the best thiefs in the world.
“To be good thiefs you’ve got to be well-planned, you’ve got to be audacious, you’ve got to be smart and you’ve got to have plenty of spirit within the team. They’re all the things we’re looking for. We want to be the Pink Panthers in a … gold jersey.”
Watch all the action from the Six Nations with every match streaming ad-free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport. Round 3 returns Sunday 26 February, with Italy v Ireland (1:05am AEDT), Wales v England (3:35am AEDT) and France v Scotland (1:50am AEDT).
