'It wasn't addressed': Elephant in Wallabies room

LYON: Wallabies captain Will Skelton insists embattled coach Eddie Jones retains the "full trust" of the players despite him reportedly interviewing for the Japan job just before the Rugby World Cup.

Skelton fronted up to media on a Zoom call on Monday after Australia bombed out of the pool stages for the first time with an embarrassing 40-6 loss to Wales at OL Stadium.

The giant lock's calf injury saw him miss the losses to Fiji and Wales and he was asked about the bombshell Sydney Morning Herald story.

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Will Skelton of Australia embraces Ben Donaldson of Australia at fulltime.

"No, it wasn't addressed and no, I don't think it was a distraction," Skelton said.

"That's something that has been knocked on the head there. Eddie has denied it with us so we have full trust in him. I don't think it was a distraction leading into the game…

"I don't have to (ask Jones directly). I've heard the press conference last night and I trust him in what he says. He's a man of his word and he has the full support of the group."

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Jones is contracted to Rugby Australia until the home World Cup in 2027 but the France flop and Japan developments have cast a massive shadow over that.

Jones has a 1-7 record since replacing Dave Rennie in January but Skelton said he was the right man going forward.

"I think he's a fantastic coach with a massive rugby IQ that we're learning every day when we're working with him. It's one of those things that he simplifies the game of rugby for us. And unfortunately we couldn't perform up to those standards on the weekend and the weeks gone by, to really show that coaching that's been happening in the last few months.

NEW PODCAST! Michael Atkinson, Sam Worthington and Tom Decent complete a grisly Wallabies post-mortem in Lyon and try to make sense of Eddie Jones threatening to turn Japanese again

https://omny.fm/shows/rugby-world-cup-inside-line/tom-decent-details-exclusive-eddie-jones-story/embed?in_playlist=podcast&style=Cover

"And that's on the players and that's on us owning that and putting our hands up as well, I think."

Skelton said he was hopeful that his calf will recover for Sunday's clash with Portugal in Saint-Etienne.

He rejected the theory that he had over-trained in France on the back of a gruelling Top 14 season with La Rochelle.

Will Skelton of Australia at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

"I don't think anything in training load was it. Maybe a soft pitch or I wore the wrong boots. That could have been the cause.

"But in terms of training load and high minutes, man, I don't think it's linked. It was a freak thing, wrong place, wrong time, I think."

Skelton also had some interesting comments when asked how he thought Rennie would be feeling watching the train wreck from afar.

Dave Rennie at Stadio Artemio Franchi.

"I think he would be hurting, mate. He's a good man, Dave. He had a good relationship with his players as well, so I think he would be hurting on a personal level. I'm sure he would send texts out to his players, his ex-players, but I think as a person he's a good person, so he'd definitely be hurting for where we're at at the moment…

"The boys will not grieve but it will sting for a long time for us. We not only let ourselves down but we let all our fans and our families back home down. So, we're hurting for that.

"To get a couple of losses and almost end the tournament, the boys are really disappointed, they're gutted. We've got one more shot to put out a good performance and that's what we are focused on."

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