Eddie Jones has written to Rugby Australia to end his ill-fated second spell in charge but has strenuously denied claims he has lined up the Japan job.
Jones’s legal representatives wrote to RA chairman Hamish McLennan and chief executive officer Phil Waugh this week before he left Australia to help coach the Barbarians for their game against Wales next Saturday in Cardiff.
The letter, first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald and since confirmed to Telegraph Sport, has sparked further talk Jones could take the vacant job at Japan. Reports have suggested Jones is set for a second interview with the Japan Rugby Football Union in November. In an interview on Friday with the Sydney Morning Herald, Jones said he would be in Japan next month with his wife on holiday, but strongly denied that he would be leaving the Wallabies.
“I’m so p----- off with the situation now,” Jones said. “I’m really p----- off with what has happened.
“Look, I take responsibility for the bad results. But I don’t take responsibility for 20 years of decline of Australian rugby. And that’s what’s trying to be pinned on me.