For Japanese rugby players, including former NRL convert Craig Wing<\/strong>, the resort was anything but a fantasy land when they used it as a training base ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a prison,\u201d Wing smiles. \u201cI didn\u2019t even see the golf course, let alone play a round. We only used the pool for recovery sessions. I did some tough training with Ricky Stuart when he was Roosters coach in the early 2000s, but that time under Eddie was probably the hardest \u2013 mentally and physically \u2013 I\u2019ve ever trained. We went a month without a day off. We\u2019d do these really big, tough days but he\u2019d just ask us, \u2018When things go bad, who will dig in and just keep going?\u2019<\/p>\n The Japan coach, of course, was Eddie Jones<\/strong>. Wing, who played 11 matches for Japan from 2013-15, identifies comparisons between the Wallabies\u2019 approach in 2023 and the Cherry Blossoms\u2019 eight years ago.<\/p>\n For starters, reputation counts for little. Jones left veterans like Michael Hooper<\/strong> and Quade Cooper<\/strong> out of his squad for this year\u2019s World Cup and did something similar eight years ago.<\/p>\n Eddie Jones likes having the last laugh on his critics.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cIn Japan, they have a senpai–<\/strong><\/em>kohai <\/em>mentality,\u201d Wing says. \u201cThat means a junior guy bides his time until the senior guy bows out. But Eddie just ripped through all that and picked young blokes over older blokes. There were some big names in Japan who weren\u2019t picked \u2013 and it was the right decision. He was really about building the team from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones also overhauled the way Japan played, knowing that what\u2019s worked in the past wouldn\u2019t cut it. He led Suntory to titles playing a flat style of attack and wanted the national side to play the same way.<\/p>\n Three years out from the World Cup, he developed a drill called \u201cBeat the Boks\u201d, which had the singular focus of beating South Africa in the first pool match.<\/p>\n \u201cOur whole approach was about keeping the ball in play, being fitter than everyone else, and running everyone off their feet,\u201d Wing continues. \u201cWe worked on that drill for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n Craig Wing played for Japan under Jones at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Jones also worked intensely with the forward pack, devising a way in which his players\u2019 lack of height could work to their advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cWith their lower centre of gravity, the game plan was to take it away from the set piece, and then just drop them [South Africa\u2019s forwards] at the legs because we\u2019re lower than them,\u201d Wing says. \u201cGet the ball out of the ruck and run<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n To achieve that, the players had to be fitter than they\u2019d ever been. Days would start at 5.30am and finish just before dinner, but older players like Wing would then do physio and rehab, not returning to their hotel rooms until 8pm.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you see the Roosters-Storm match last night?\u201d Jones, a rugby league tragic, would ask Wing at breakfast.<\/p>\n \u201cMate, I\u2019m flat out getting enough sleep!\u201d Wing would reply.<\/p>\n As Wing offers now: \u201cHe was trying to break the young guys down to see what they were made of. He could be quite harsh, but I\u2019ve always found in my career you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re capable of until you are broken.\u201d<\/p>\n When Japan could only muster one win at the Pacific Nations Cup against their fellow tier-two nations, Jones felt the full brunt of the Japanese rugby media. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n \u201cHe was copping a roasting in Japan,\u201d Wing says. \u201cThe Japanese media were into him at the Pacific Nations, but he didn\u2019t care. It was about building into the World Cup. He really fed into it. He\u2019d say to us, \u2018It\u2019s just us and our families versus the rest of the world.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Few expected Japan to make a ripple at the World Cup in England. Even when they beat Georgia in a warm-up match, pushing one of the biggest packs in international rugby off the ball, it didn\u2019t seem likely to many that a Springboks upset was brewing.<\/p>\n Karne Hesketh celebrates his famous winning try in Brighton in 2015.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Wing and his teammates knew better: \u201cAfter that win we thought, \u2018Eddie actually knows what he\u2019s doing\u2019. It was all part of the grand plan.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s now part of rugby folklore that Japan beat South Africa 34-32 after Karne Hesketh<\/strong> scored in the final minute in what is widely considered the greatest upset in Rugby World Cup history.<\/p>\n What does all this mean for this fresh-faced Wallabies side for their World Cup opener against Georgia at Stade de France on Sunday morning (AEST)?<\/p>\n I\u2019m not entirely sure but underestimate Eddie Jones, strange little mind-magician that he is, at your peril.<\/p>\n Regular readers of this column will know I have a soft spot for AFL coach Kevin Sheedy<\/strong>, mostly because you\u2019ll rarely find someone with a better attitude towards life, sport and the art of long lunching. He\u2019s also cracking fun, as GWS Giants chief executive Dave Matthews<\/strong> illuminated with a hilarious story about the great man on the BackChat podcast last month.<\/p>\n Some years ago, Matthews and Sheedy were in a suite at Etihad Stadium for Manchester City\u2019s derby against Manchester United. Matthews advised Sheedy that Oasis lead singer \u2014 and Man City fan \u2014 Liam Gallagher<\/strong> would likely be in attendance.<\/p>\n There were two rules of engagement with the prickly rockstar: don\u2019t ask for a photo and don\u2019t talk to him about his brother, Noel.<\/p>\n Gallagher breezed into the room with a glass of champagne in hand and was, soon enough, introduced to the four-time premiership-winning coach.<\/p>\n Mouthy former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher has long been a fixture at his beloved Manchester City.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cAre you the f—in\u2019 manager?\u201d Gallagher asked in his thick Mancunian accent.<\/p>\n \u201cHow\u2019d you know that?\u201d Sheedy asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMy security guard is from Australia. How f–ing good were you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEver play in front of 300,000 people in Brazil?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, the best I ever did was 100,000 a week, for 22 weeks a year, for 27 years at the MCG \u2026 Did Oasis ever f—ing do that?\u201d<\/p>\n Put that in your glass of fancy bubbles and drink it.<\/p>\n The ABC lost one of its most respected voices last month when Craig Hamilton<\/strong> left the national broadcaster, but the upside is he\u2019s focusing on his critical work in the mental health space.<\/p>\n A legend in Newcastle and beyond, \u201cHammo\u201d has been raw and honest about his own struggles after suffering a manic episode on the platform at Broadmeadow train station on his way to Sydney for the 2000 Olympics.<\/p>\n He was diagnosed bipolar and, since then, has spread the gospel about mental health; through his superb book Broken Open<\/em> then as a speaker around the country.<\/p>\n Now comes the documentary The Promise<\/em>, an adaptation of his bestselling book while also doubling as a suicide prevention film.<\/p>\n Hamilton speaks to revered figures like TV personality Jessica Rowe<\/strong>, mental health advocates Joe Williams<\/strong> and Bailey Seamer<\/strong>, world champion boxer Tim Tszyu<\/strong>, rugby league mastercoach Wayne Bennett<\/strong> and legendary former Knights captain Paul Harragon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m passionate about mental illness because I\u2019ve survived it,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cSpeaking about it might save someone else\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n Hamilton and award-winning director Jye Currie<\/strong> will host Q&A screenings around the country, including the Civic Theatre in Newcastle, Ritz Cinema in Randwick, Event Cinemas in Shellharbour, Event Cinemas Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Kotara, Mackay and Cairns, Cinema Nova in Melbourne and the Palace Cinema in Canberra.<\/p>\n To book, go to www.greenfrogproductions.com.<\/p>\n THE QUOTE THUMBS UP<\/strong> Dylan Edwards celebrates during the Panthers\u2019 big win over North Queensland, which secured a third minor premiership in four seasons.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n THUMBS DOWN<\/p>\n
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The day Sheedy threw it back to rock royalty<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Hamilton hits screens again<\/h3>\n
<\/strong><\/strong>\u201dDylan Edwards<\/strong> at fullback has made 193 assists. That\u2019s phenomenal.\u201d \u2013 NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo<\/strong> singles out the Penrith star while presenting the club with the JJ Giltinan Shield for securing the minor premiership. Edwards also shot 79.9 per cent from the free-throw line and is averaging 12.2 rebounds per match \u2026 In all fairness, give Abdo a break. He was only praising the kid.<\/p>\n
Just as a champion boxer can look old in one round, so can a champion thoroughbred in one race. And so it was for mighty Nature Strip in the Concorde Stakes at Randwick on Saturday when he finished sixth, prompting owners to retire the nine-time group 1 winner. Nature Strip, we salute thee.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Cricket Australia is persisting with this nonsense of potentially moving the Boxing Day Test from the MCG and the New Year\u2019s Test from the SCG \u2014 all for the sake of raking in more revenue. The NSW and Victorian governments should cough up some money to host these headline Tests, but cricket will have officially sold the farm down the river to the devil if they\u2019re played elsewhere.<\/p>\n