Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has come out in support of rebel rugby competition R360, saying the code needs a lift in excitement below Test match level.
As leading nations moved to quell the rebel uprising by saying they’ll ignore R360-aligned players for Test selection, Jones believes rugby should embrace the proposed competition.
“I think we need it, mate,” Jones told The Times on Tuesday. “You think about what World Series Cricket did for cricket. It changed the whole game from being a drab game to being an exciting game that people wanted to get involved in. And I think that’s part of the problem of rugby at the moment.
“Test match rugby is that. But we need another level that’s an entertainment level that brings more fans and more sponsors and more commercialism into the game to allow our more traditional levels of rugby to continue.”
Eddie Jones, Head Coach of Australia, poses for a portrait during the Australia Rugby World Cup 2023 Squad photocall on August 30, 2023 in Saint-Etienne, France. (Photo by Adam Pretty – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
While the leading national Unions are set on resisting R360, the organisers of the rebel league have said they would structure the competition so that players will be available for their national teams.
Jones told The Times that rugby needed to move towards a football model where all internationals are within set windows.
England play Australia at Twickenham next month outside the international window meaning the Wallabies are likely to be missing their overseas based players such as Will Skelton.
“We’ve got to be really, really careful about how the game goes forward. International rugby is thriving, and so we’ve got to make sure that keeps thriving,” Jones said.
“I think the game is going to have to go to [aligned] international windows. Football’s been at it for a lot longer than us. And that’s the reason they have international windows, so they can separate their domestic leagues, look after the domestic leagues, so their best players play in the domestic leagues.
“We know in most of the countries now, apart from maybe France and Japan, domestic rugby is really struggling financially.
“Top 14 is doing well because of [broadcaster] Canal Plus, and in Japan, it’s the companies that fund the competition. But everywhere else, the game is really struggling. We’ve just seen in America they’re down to, I think, six teams in the MLR. England’s been down to ten teams now. Super Rugby is running off an oily rag at the moment.
“And then, obviously, 360 sees a vacuum, doesn’t it, to step into domestic rugby.”
Jones is no stranger to left-field concepts in rugby. In 2021 he was involved in plans to launch a World 12s competition which never eventualised, in part due to scheduling issues.
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2025/10/14/we-need-it-why-eddie-jones-is-backing-r360-think-about-what-world-series-cricket-did/‘We need it’: Why Eddie Jones is backing R360 – ‘think about what World Series Cricket did’
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