Defiant Eddie Jones maintains misfiring Wallabies can win Rugby World Cup

Wallabies Coach Eddie Jones looks on during The Rugby Championship match between the Australia Wallabies and Argentina. Photo / Getty Images.

Eddie Jones says he is slowly piecing together a Wallabies team that can win the World Cup.

Jones admitted to being despondent after a late Argentina try sent Australia to another defeat, following their mauling by South Africa in this season’s Rugby Championship opener.

But Jones is seldom lost for plenty of words and he said the 31 - 34 loss to the Pumas in Sydney was just another step in the World Cup long game.

And he was “100 per cent confident” the world crown could be won.

“It was always going to be difficult if you’re coming off a base where you’ve been consistently unsuccessful for a period of time,” said Jones, who is starting a second spell in charge of the Wallabies after replacing Dave Rennie.

“We’re trying to change the team and also trying to change the way we play…and I’m quite happy to accept that we’re not where we should be.

“But I’m also quite happy to tell you that I think we’re on the right track and we’ll get there.

“It would have been easy if I come in, take the team, pared everything back and played a really simple game.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 15: The Wallabies huddle during The Rugby Championship match between the Australia Wallabies and Argentina at CommBank Stadium on July 15, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)

“But that’s not going to win us the World Cup. We need to be able to play a number of different ways with an attack that’s unpredictable to the opposition, which at the moment is unpredictable to us too.

“I remember my first car was a Datsun 1200 - you’d fix the handbrake and the next day the windscreen wipers would break. We’re a bit like that at the moment.

“As painful and hard as it is, we’ll keep working on it and we’ll get this right. It seems we’re miles away but all this is going to make us harder and more hungry.”

Jones was delighted with wing Mark Nawaqanitawase, saying he “lit up the stadium” with every touch of the ball.

“Kids are jumping off the edge of the seat - he’s that sort of player. Fantastic,” Jones said.

But captain James Slipper was frustrated at the poor discipline after the Wallabies’ fifth consecutive Rugby Championship defeat.

“A yellow card and a couple of penalties put us at the wrong end of the field and you just can’t win test matches playing that sort of rugby,” Slipper said.

“There’s quite a few of us who have to look at those penalties and rectify them because performances like that, we won’t go far at the World Cup.”