Off the bench: Jones sure to use all tricks at his disposal

By CHRIS RATTUE

When will the real Eddie Jones' Wallabies appear?

There were some familiar traits from Jones' Brumbies that appeared in Green and Gold on the high ground at Pretoria at the weekend, although not exactly the ones Australian supporters would have wanted.

Under pressure, the Wallabies yapped away at Irish referee David McHugh who appeared to be the sort of bloke who chose refereeing just ahead of joining a debating team.

And when the Springboks - playing with all the advantages that desperation in front of fanatical home supporters brings - prevented the quick recycling of Australian ball, Jones' Wallabies were often confused in their response.

Remember, despite their often brilliant rugby, those Brumbies certainly can struggle for a plan B when plan A runs into a wall of angry opponents willing to get in their face.

To be fair, the Wallabies were hurt by McHugh's mad display. In particular, they were denied a penalty try and lost three vital points when George Smith fell foul of the worst tackled ball ruling of the season.

But they were hardly impressive, and Jones has little time to put things right.

There is a mountain of difference between preparing what is virtually a club side such as the Brumbies and taking the national team on a series of major clashes.

But Jones will have to adapt.

The 41-year-old, whose father met Eddie's Japanese mother when the Australian Army occupied that country in the 1940s, learned many of his philosophies while coaching in Japan in the mid-1990s.

The former New South Wales hooker, who saw his international chances dashed when Bob Dwyer plucked Phil Kearns from the Randwick reserve grade team in 1989, leaves nothing to chance.

He admired the way Japanese sides relied heavily on skills and repetitive drills, and he is now known as someone quick to blame poor preparation, particularly his own, for poor performance.

With the Brumbies, he had players walking through carefully-worked moves months before the season started, and plenty of back-up players equally well acquainted with the ploys so they could be slotted in with barely a hiccup.

But the national side is a different story.

Problem number one: Jones will not always get that sort of preparation time with the Wallabies, whose players come not only from rival camps, but different playing systems.

While Jones was involved with Australia's preparation under Rod Macqueen this year, he has only weeks to stamp his own mark.

The Brumbies' system also relies heavily on the notion that while you are unlikely to win all of your competition games, if your system is the best and you can stick to it, then the semifinals beckon.

Which leads to another problem. Three or four losses at the wrong time can virtually sink an international career. It can even be tighter than that.

Some in the All Blacks would have had us believe that careers and dreams tumbled in just a few minutes against France at the last World Cup.

So back to Mr Jones. What to do in Dunedin with a team still overcoming the loss of some fairly handy items such as Tim Horan and a battle-hardened front row.

A reasonable guess would be that the Wallabies will fall back on the old adage that the best form of defence is attack. If Jones' Brumbies are the prototype, they will try to keep the ball in hand more.

Jones' instincts may have been developed by his childhood primary school team-mates, the wonderful Ella brothers and Lloyd Walker, so sleight of hand a la Brumbies playmakers Stephen Larkham and Rod Kafer should be in the bag of tricks.

His plans could be helped if Larkham is fit to play in 10 days, although Bernie's game was strangely more dead than alive in the first test against the Lions.

Jones knows that the numbers required to retain the ball at the breakdown often mean his attackers will be faced with more foe than friends, so trickery is essential in breaking through for tries.

But, most importantly, he will want his Wallabies to recycle the ball quickly so George Gregan can slip out a stream of passes to runners who will take on and try to confuse an All Black side who regard the best form of attack as defence, for now anyway.

Then again, Jones might have something else up his sleeve as he tries to assert his position as coach of the world champions. Australian expectations are high. There is no time to lose. All we can do is wait.