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Former England rugby coach Eddie Jones has revealed that he reached out to Ange Postecoglou via text message after the Australian football coach was brutally sacked by Nottingham Forest just 39 days after he was appointed the club’s manager.
Jones, who now coaches the Japanese national side, explained that he felt some empathy for the ex-Forest manager, noting that he was also unceremoniously sacked by the Rugby Football Union back in 2022.
The 65-year-old revealed to SEN on Thursday that he had shared a few texts with Postecoglou in recent days, stating that the former Tottenham boss was still 'hurting' but had seen his departure coming.
'I just love coaching,’ Jones told SEN, when pressed on what it's like to be sacked from a managerial role.
‘When you finish playing, it's the next best thing. It's such an enjoyable experience.
'The more you coach, the more you learn that your day will come. Don't look too far ahead. I've been sacked a couple of times now and it hurts; it puts you in a world of hurt.
Eddie Jones has opened up on the texts that he sent to Ange Postecoglou (pictured) after the Australian football manager was sacked by Nottingham Forest
Jones (pictured) explained he had empathy for his Australian compatriot, having been sacked by several teams in the past
'Ange Postecoglou just got sacked. We were just texting each other the other day. He knew it was coming but it still hurts. Hurts like buggery.’
Postecoglou takes the unwanted record of holding the second shortest reign of any permanent Premier League manager to leave a club during a league season, behind Sam Allardyce, who left Leeds after 30 days in charge back in 2023.
Despite his successes with Tottenham, the 60-year-old Australian endured a disappointing time at Forest, taking charge of eight matches across all competitions and losing all but two of those games, which were draws to newly promoted side Burnley and Real Betis in the Europa League.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis brutally chose to wield the axe just 19 minutes after the Premier League outfit had suffered a 3-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday, with Postecoglou having since been replaced by former Everton and Burnley manager Sean Dyche.
Jones, meanwhile, opened up on his own departure from England in 2022, claiming he believes he’ll be the last foreign coach to take charge of the national side and issued some strong comments about the inner workings of English rugby.
'I was the first (non-English England coach) and I reckon I'll be the last,’ he stated.
‘The English, they invented the game and they’re very hierarchical and status-driven. There was always pressure, they look down at Australians, they really do.’
He was appointed England coach back in 2015 and led the side to their first World Cup final since 2007.
After thumping the All Blacks in the semi-finals, England would go on to lose to South Africa in the final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, with Jones admitting that the game was one of the low points in his distinguished career.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis (pictured) chose to wield the axe after Postecoglou had failed to win a game during his time in charge
Jones revealed that the former Tottenham manager (pictured) was hurting, despite knowing his exit was on the horizon
‘The players were a good bunch of guys,’ he said. We got them back to playing like England. Good, tough, hard rugby. That World Cup final was probably [one of] the most disappointing games I’ve ever coached in.
‘I still have a scar on the back of my head that reminds me of that night.’
Jones has previously admitted in his autobiography My Life and Rugby that he made several selection errors coming into the match. One was not starting Joe Marler over Mako Vunipola at loosehead. The other was not starting Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade in midfield. He had instead chosen to play George Ford at 10 alongside Farrell and Tuilagi as his centres.
But after a disappointing year, winning only five games from 12 in 2022, the RFU decided to wield the axe and dismiss the 65-year-old.
At the time, Jones said he was disappointed to leave the England set-up, but would later go on to fire a shot at the RFU, claiming that they must take responsibility for the national side’s poor form.
‘You’ve got an ageing team … They’re not producing quality players,’ he told the BBC in 2023. ‘Everyone looks at the head coach and wants to blame the head coach. But the onus on producing quality players is the RFU, and that hasn’t happened.’
He’d subsequently returned to Australia and succeeded Dave Rennie in 2023 as the Wallabies head coach, tasked with the job of getting the national side back to its former glory.
‘I wanted to shake up Australian rugby and we got a few things done,’ he told SEN.
Jones opened up on his own unceremonious dismissal as England manager back in 2022
But things didn’t go to plan. The Wallabies crashed out at the group stages, notably suffering a demoralising 40-6 defeat by Wales.
Controversial rumours also emerged during the 2023 World Cup that Jones had entertained conversations with a rival national team, and after being sacked in October of that year, joined Japan six weeks later.
‘In reality, I knew I was on a hiding to nothing,’ he explained.
'You know, we had four days before the first rugby championship game and we only had a week and a half before the World Cup as a squad to train.
‘I knew it was gonna be tough, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to give it a go.
‘I wanted to shake up Australian rugby. We got a few things done.
‘We got Joseph Sua'ali'i across the line and you can see the effect he’s had on the team.’
The 65-year-old will come up against his old side on Saturday as Japan take on Australia in Tokyo.
Jones explained that he still has regrets over his tactics during the 2019 Rugby World Cup final, with the Aussie coach adding that the defeat by South Africa was a low point in his career
And for Jones, coming up against the Wallabies turns him into a different kind of competitor.
‘When you’re playing your own country, there’s always a different feeling involved… it just brings out the extreme competitive spirit within yourself,’ he said.
‘We realise that it's a big task for us but we feel like we're up to it.
‘We're ready to take them on.’
