LIAM DEL CARME | Experienced Eddie Jones is still a man for all seasons

It was biting cold as Eddie Jones stepped out to hold court on a terrace at the Wallabies’ team hotel on Thursday morning. As settings go, this was closer to the stars than a Garden Court, but the Wallabies’ coach wasn't exactly basking in the Sandton sun as it was still obscured by the adjacent high-risers.

“This wind has something to it,” co-captain James Slipper muttered with a grimace as he pulled out his chair to take up position next to Jones, who was flanked on the other side by the other co-captain, Michael Hooper.

They felt the cold but Jones soon warmed to occasion. He after all is a man for all seasons. The head coach was there to explain his Wallaby match selection for the first time since 2005.

But such are the quirks, and indeed the aura of the coach conversation soon turned to him. “It’s not really about me,” he pleaded at one point.

On another he responded to a question posed online that he is there to talk about players who were selected, not those left out.

Being in Jones’s orbit, however, requires you to strap in. He can be affable, but he can also be irascible.

Ask him a well-formulated question and his interaction is warm and engaging. Conversely, he doesn’t suffer fools.

Given his and the Wallabies’ poor record at Loftus Versfeld, where Saturday's Test will be played, Jones might have been pushed to discourse of discomfort. The Wallabies have lost all seven Tests they’ve played against the Springboks in Pretoria. His Reds team lost there 92-3 in 2007 as the Bulls stampeded their way towards a Super Rugby title.

Jones on Thursday took it in his stride.

Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao. That’s how we are going to play on Saturday. We are going to meet fire with fire and when we get the opportunity to play quicker, we’ll play quicker.

—  Eddie Jones responding to an Italian journalist

“I remember every trip to Loftus. I also remember the first team meeting with the Springboks in 2007. Jake (White, the then Bok coach) asked me to get up and talk to the boys and as I got up Jean de Villiers played the Bulls’ theme,” recalled Jones about his time as Bok assistant coach in the build-up and during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Jones, born in Tasmania to a Japanese mother, has been on the coaching staff of four teams at the RWC. He helped three to the final.

He is a man of the world.

“Buongiorno,” he said enthusiastically to an Italy-based journalist who had inquired about how the Wallabies would counter the Springboks tactically on Saturday. “I’ve been practising my Italian mate,” said Jones.

“Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao. That’s how we are going to play on Saturday,” chuckled Jones. “We are going to meet fire with fire and when we get the opportunity to play quicker, we’ll play quicker.”

Mixing irreverence with relevance is Jones’s domain.

Asked if flyhalf Quade Cooper will bring a Zen approach to proceedings, he offered: “I don't think Zen operates in Pretoria too well, it’s more brandy and Coke up there.

“He’s experienced now. The way he has helped Carter (Gordon, substitute flyhalf) as well, we know we are going to get a good 80 minutes out of that No. 10 position.”

About the virtues that got debutant flank Tom Hooper selected, Jones was more succinct. “He rips in, mate.”

Compared to the Springboks’ 500 caps in their starting team, the Wallabies boast 686. That perhaps gave Jones the licence to hand the young Hooper a debut and potentially three more on the bench.

He was, after all, tasked to chart a new future for the Wallabies. Jones, however, remains respectful of the quality that preceded him.

“I’m just building on the good work Dave Rennie did. He did a lot of great foundation work.

“Any good team has great experience at the top but then they have an infusion of energy and enthusiasm from the young guys. We are trying to get that mix right. Now, do we have it for Saturday? Ya, I think we do.”

In the absence of the sun, Jones found a way to radiate.