Losses against New Zealand and South Africa in The Rugby Championship could be accepted as teething pains, but when Jones was pressed about the omission of a host of experienced stars in his Rugby World Cup squad, he snapped. 

The likes of Michael Hooper, Quade Cooper, Bernard Foley, Pete Samu, Jed Holloway and Len Ikitau were left out. While some carried niggling injuries, it is understood all would have been fit for the majority of the tournament.  

In that same chat with journalists, he’d talked about the need for a bigger seven but no one saw Tom Hooper coming at the start of the year. Ikitau meanwhile had been lauded as one of the better outside centres in world Rugby, but Jones couldnot get past Jordan Petaia’s breakout 2019 World Cup at outside centre and locked in the outside back alongside Samu Kerevi. 

Meanwhile, Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley were left to head back to Japan as rising star Carter Gordon was shown the ultimate sign of faith in being named the only fly-half in the squad - before being dropped to the bench during the World Cup. 

The media’s first chance to ask Jones about his selections in person was at Sydney Airport as the squad departed for France - leading to the infamous airport press conference calling for uppercuts to be delivered to the "negative" journalists who questioned his plans. Jones would later concede that he got this wrong. 

As the Wallabies boarded the plane for the Rugby World Cup, little did the squad know about the tumult of what was to unfold in the coming weeks. 

Following a win over Georgia, there was a one-two punch coming in defeats to Fiji and Wales. The Wallabies tried to match the Fijians’ power game and came off second best as Fiji played their best game of the tournament to come away with their first win over Australia in nearly 70 years.

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