Eddie Jones earned a few knowing chuckles when he introduced himself as "former coach of Japan, and former coach of the Stormers", at a recent high-performance rugby workshop in Los Angeles. Stormers fans probably wouldn't have laughed but, in this company, it was an acceptable in-house joke and a disarming introduction.The audience was made up of coaches and high-performance managers of the so-called Tier 2 rugby nations - those outside the Six Nations and Rugby championship teams.I was there as part of World Rugby's high-performance team and we were gathered for a post-World Cup strategy review to plan for the next four-year cycle.Coaches understand the volatile nature of their employment carousel and so, unlike most fans, understand the decision by Jones to leave the Stormers to pursue an opportunity with the world's wealthiest rugby nation, England.There is some irony then, given the resources in terms of players, finances and support staff that Jones will now enjoy that he was addressing a group of coaches for whom a lack of resources is a primary concern.He was invited to share his insights and experiences from Japan's campaign because of their solid performances and one gigantic victory against a team that shall remain nameless.Jones's message was simple - abandon naïvety and realistically assess where you can't compete. Then invest heavily at being better at the things that will help you win. In Japan's case, it meant achieving a minimum standard of parity in the scrums and line-outs and then becoming technically and tactically excellent at a game his players would be capable of playing - fast-paced, precise and destabilising to the opposition. We were the (too willing) victims of this in Brighton. Every team in every sport in South Africa should borrow from it, too - it's basic strategic thinking, sadly lacking.It is easier said than done, however. I got the distinct impression that Jones's simple message is the outcome of hugely complex and detailed insights, which is a hallmark of the best high performance minds - complex simplicity.I was at the workshop to present a statistical picture of the "health" of the Tier 2 nations, based on an analysis of the tournament, as well as the historical evolution of the game and the players.Overall, the picture is positive. The average margin between the favoured - and wealthy - Tier 1 nations and the Tier 2 countries is decreasing, the number of very heavy defeats has dropped significantly and their style of play is becoming more comparable. This is true not only on the scoreboard, but also in phases of the game where Tier 2 nations historically have been outmuscled, out-thought and outplayed.This is critical for the sport, because competitive parity not only increases commercial value of the existing product, it also opens up new markets, and that means growth (cricket is a case where the persistence of the gap would be of concern).The greatest challenge, identified by every Tier 2 nation, is that they lack a large body of players exposed to top coaching and competition. Argentina have shown how profound an effect elite exposure can have - they may have regularly finished last in the southern hemisphere competition, but their participation (along with very clever strategy and investment) has helped elevate them to a genuine, sustainable contender on the global stage.Achieving this in a congested calendar, with powerful commercial interests, is not quite as simple. To return to Jones, a realistic appraisal of the situation is that revolution can't happen, there is no blank canvas. Instead, incremental gains can be made but only if the targeted investment into expertise continues (World Rugby supported the employment of 106 coaches in various roles to Tier 2 nations this year).In the real world, the buck ultimately stops with the coaches. As Saru considers its next move with respect to our own future, it might pay to keep that in mind...