Gaffney in limbo after firing of Wallaby boss

THE ink was hardly dry on yesterday’s “Irish Examiner” piece on Alan Gaffney when Eddie Jones was fired as coach of the Australian rugby team.

In our interview, Gaffney, the former Munster coach, spoke in glowing terms of Jones’s capacity as a coach, insisting: “He’s demanding but you have to be like that. He doesn’t ask anyone to do what he doesn’t do himself. He has a good rugby brain. Virtually to a man, the players are supportive of him.”

Gaffney had been Jones’s assistant coach since last May. After they won their first four matches together, the rot set in, and their only victory in their nine outings since was over Ireland at Lansdowne Road last month.