By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia coach Eddie Jones admitted he has taken a gamble with his inexperienced World Cup squad but remains convinced that the Wallabies have what it takes to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for the third time in Paris in October.
Jones, who has presided over four losses since he returned as coach, axed long-time skipper Michael Hooper and 80-cap flyhalf Quade Cooper when he named a squad for the tournament with an average of 20 caps a man.
“I always think the biggest risk is not to take the risk,” Jones told reporters from Darwin on Thursday.
“We’ve got plenty of talent, but what we don’t have is a team who can fight for 80 minutes.
“We want a fresh approach to the way we play the game, we’re changing the way we attack particularly. We feel the younger players can adapt to it quicker.”
Because of injury, Jones has had to be flexible with his captaincy selections since returning to Australia in January and one of the big surprises on Thursday was the naming of France-based forward Will Skelton as co-captain with Tate McDermott.
“It’s more leading the team than captaining the team because you can be a good captain and a poor leader,” said Jones.
“Will’s a very good leader of men. Particularly for humble players, captaincy is not something they want and you have to encourage them to take it.”
The towering lock said being named captain was a huge honour but confessed he had very little experience in formal leadership positions.
“It’s just about being myself and leading in the only way I can, just through my actions,” Skelton said.
“I’m not much of a talker around the team, but it’s about those micro comms and getting this group well-connected for a hard slog that’s going to be the World Cup.”
Jones has said consistently since his return to Australia that his role is not just about winning test matches, but reinvigorating the entire sport in his home country.
“This squad is good enough to win this World Cup and possibly go on to win the next World Cup,” he said.
“If we don’t then it will be a failure. But there are other ways to be successful.
“If we come back and if everyone in Australia is talking about how good the Wallabies were at the World Cup, and how excited they were about watching them play, then we will have had some success …”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
