Amusing, mischievous, outrageous, grumpy, and offensive. But above all, Jones is smart

Hardly anyone on this side of the equator had heard of him until he began sounding off about the Lions during the second week of their Australian tour in 2001.

Eddie Jones, an ambitious young coach on the eve of his first international assignment, made himself heard with what would become part of his modus operandi, the trademark rant designed to distract and disparage. He had started as he meant to go on.