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Eddie Jones (born January 30, 1960 in Burnie, Tasmania of a Japanese mother and an Australian father) is a rugby union coach and former player. He was sacked from the Queensland Reds after a dismal season that saw the Reds finish in their worst position since the inception of the Super 12. It is largely accepted in the media that he was responsible for the unprecedented amount of injuries to the squad and a general drop in player morale.^{[citation needed]}

Eddie Jones coached the ACT Brumbies to their first ever Super 12 title in 2001 but inherited a talented squad. He rode his Brumbies success, and was controversially appointed as head coach of the Australian national rugby union team, the Wallabies. He took Australia to the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup falling one match short losing to England in the famous final match after which players spoke out strongly about his 'hands-on' coaching style.

In 2005, the Wallabies lost seven straight games and at the end of the Wallabies European tour had lost eight of their last nine matches. On December 2, 2005 whilst having two more years left on his contract was dumped as the Wallabies head coach. While the Australian Rugby Union had ordered a report into the Wallabies after the disastrous season including a review of Jones's position as head coach, it has been speculated that the Wallabies' loss to Wales was why Jones was removed as head coach before the investigation had even begun. He lays claim to the unfortunate record of the worst win-loss ratio of any Wallabies coach.

Just over a month after Jones was relieved of his position as Wallabies head coach, he was signed to a three year deal to the Queensland Reds to take over as head coach.[1] Jones had expressed interest in the job after current Reds coach Jeff Miller was advised his contract would not be renewed at the end of the 2006 season.[2] He spent the first half of 2006, helping out with the Saracens club in England. In 2007 he has since returned to Australia and is in his first year coaching the Queensland Reds in the extended Super 14 competition. He has been approached by the Fiji Rugby Union to join Fiji rugby as a technical advisor to the 2007 Rugby World Cup [3]. Jones had a disastrous time with the Reds in 2007 as the once almighty team finished bottom of the Super 14 table and had only managed a meagre two wins the entire season. In his defence, disastrous injury spells meant Jones at times was to do without up to 8 regulars to his starting team, including the loss of influential Wallabies fullback Chris Latham even before the season started. Jones has hinted that he would probably never coach in Australia again, thus potentially closing the door on his long held ambition to return as coach of the Wallabies.

In 2007, Jake White appointed Jones to be the technical adviser of the Springboks for the Rugby World Cup in France and continued to make a number of pot shots at the Wallabies that have seen him fallen out of favor with the Australian public. Jones was credited as the brain behind the success of the South African Springboks side, which he helped lead to a 2007 World Cup Victory in France. Jones was an official part of the Springbok coaching team, but because he is not South African, he was not offered an official Springbok Rugby Blazer. Jones wore his tracksuit, but did not seem to mind as it was a condition in his contract with SA Rugby prior to being appointed.

• "Eddie Jones sacked" from The Sydney Morning Herald
• "Eddie Jones relieved of his post" from Planet Rugby
• Eddie Jones on coaching the Springboks