Eddie Jones: "I was just being honest"

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says he “fell asleep straight away” after his stunning World Cup departure press conference and has no regrets about his actions, remaining defiant that his winless team is the right one to succeed.

After selecting one of the youngest squads ever to take to the tournament in France, Jones, who is coaching the Wallabies for a second time, blasted the “pessimism” of the local media and boarded the plane after what he called the “worst press conference ever”.

He even declared the journalists in attendance should “give themselves an uppercut”.

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The Wallabies had lost four straight games before flying to France, including a home loss to Argentina and an MCG smashing by the All Blacks, and were again humbled by the World Cup hosts last weekend in the final warm-up game.

But Jones stood by the tongue-lashing he delivered at Sydney airport, declaring he was just being “honest” after a barrage of criticism.

“I fell asleep straight away,” he told Sydney radio station 2GB from France on Thursday.

“We’ve just got to be more consistent and that comes from a bit of mental toughness, that comes from the team fighting together in difficult situations.

“It also comes from our capacity to repeat skills under pressure and training is our avenue to improve. I can tell you we’re training at the absolute optimum we can and we’ll get to the World Cup and we’ll be in great condition.”

“I never have any regrets mate. You know, I try to just be as honest as I can be with my feelings and emotions and that’s how I felt at that time.

“We’ve obviously had a disappointing lead-up to the World Cup, but we’re here now, we’ve got a good young team with a new captain in Will Skelton and we’re ready to go.”

Expectations for the Wallabies at the World Cup were lowered further after the comprehensive 41-17 loss to France in Paris.

But Jones, who has continued to declare his side is going to grow into a team Australia can be proud of, is adamant there were more positives that should lead to hope for the opening World Cup clash with Georgia next week.

“It’s really interesting against France,” he said.