Jones says committed to Australia, stands by youth push after World Cup flop

SYDNEY :Eddie Jones said on Tuesday he is committed to coaching Australia for the long haul and stood by his ill-fated youth policy that saw the Wallabies crash to their earliest World Cup exit.

The 63-year-old Australian, whose mother and wife are Japanese, has been linked with the Japan head coach job since Australian media reported he had interviewed for it a couple of days before the Wallabies' final World Cup warm-up.

In his first public appearance since returning to Australia, Jones said he had not spoken to "anyone" about the Japan role and had no idea where the reports had come from.

"I’ve always been committed to Australian rugby and I want to leave it in a better place, and that’s still the job," he told reporters in Sydney.

After being sacked by England last December, Jones returned home in January on a five-year deal, his second stint as Australia coach after leading the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final in the first.

Jones immediately said Australia would claim a third World Cup triumph in France, an assertion that looked laughable after the Wallabies lost all five of their test matches in the run-up to the tournament.

With Rugby Australia to conduct a review of the World Cup, the coach conceded his future was not entirely in his hands.

"It’s not absolutely my decision, is it? We’ve got a review going forward and we’ll see what happens at the end of the review,” he said.

His inexperienced Wallabies squad exited the World Cup in France after a campaign that included back-to-back losses to Fiji and Wales.

Jones stood by his decision to go with youth and leave behind seasoned campaigners like Quade Cooper and Michael Hooper.

"I think we have left Australian rugby in a better position,” he said.

"I came into the