Glen Ella backs under-fire Eddie Jones to thrive in new battle with Australia

Glen Ella, the former Wallabies full-back and England’s assistant coach the last time they toured Australia, let out a chuckle when asked if Eddie Jones gets an extra kick out of taking on his home country. “Ah shit yeah,” was the succinct response, which sums up pretty perfectly how someone Ella has known since the age of five is approaching the coming series.

Jones is under considerably more pressure than six years ago when, aided by Ella who he had recruited as an attack coach, he guided England to a first series win in Australia, and a 3-0 whitewash to boot. Now Jones returns for a second tour of Australia as England head coach and, according to Ella, the Wallabies are still stinging – all the more so because Jones has a 100% record and eight-match winning streak with England against Australia. But while Ella senses optimism among the Wallabies, he believes Jones is in his element with his back against the wall, after another disappointing Six Nations and an embarrassing defeat by the Barbarians.

“I sit here laughing when I see some of the press that is coming out of England,” Ella, who went to school with Jones and played club rugby alongside him at Randwick, told the Guardian. “Some of it is warranted, there’s no doubt about that, but this is what he thrives on. They’ll come over here and put three good games together, that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. He thrives under that kind of pressure and that probably brings the best out of him, especially away from England, in an environment that he knows. He probably left not on the best terms in Australia but the one thing about Eddie is that he’s got a lot of belief in himself and a lot of belief in his team.”

Ella stopped short of tipping England to win the series,