Alan Jones has taken another swipe at coach Eddie Jones after Australia’s shock loss to Fiji left their World Cup campaign on life support – with the former Wallabies boss insisting a big name must be brought back into the squad.

The former radio star – who won a Grand Slam with the national side in 1984 by beating England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales – also blasted the current side for using NRL coaches and accused the current coach of using ‘spin’ to cover up the team’s deep-seated problems.

Australia’s loss to Fiji means they have to beat Wales and Portugal to avoid being knocked out of the World Cup in the pool stage for the first time ever – and Jones is adamant bringing Quade Cooper into the side is key to their survival in France.

The fly-half was a controversial omission from the coach’s squad for the tournament and Jones said that needs to be rectified immediately after Carter Gordon’s shocker against the Fijians.

‘If Eddie Jones ignores the opportunity to bring in an experienced No.10, the Wallabies may soon be named “Les Miserables”,’ he wrote for News Corp, explaining that injuries in the squad have given the coach the chance to alter his line-up.

‘I would pick Quade Cooper, a big-game player and a winner.

‘If Quade won’t answer the phone call, you can also look at James O’Connor or Bernard Foley, experienced ball players who ca manage the World Cup Test match on the paddock.’

All of those names are at least 33 years old, flying in the face of Eddie Jones’ commitment to youth at the World Cup – which opened up another avenue of attack for the former 2GB radio star.

Alan Jones lashed out at the national coach for promising the side would smash South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina in the lead-up to the tournament in France, only to fall to all three opponents in shocking fashion.

‘Interestingly, over the course of the World Cup build-up, the “smash and grab” theme evolved into an “I’m backing the kids” theme.

‘It feels like spin and I am not buying it.

‘I have said before, this is not the youngest side to represent Australia in a major contest. Where ability is present, age does not matter.’

Jones said the Wallabies fell to Fiji because they were dominated in the scrum and maul, with the Aussies’ loose forwards not cutting it against their more committed opponents.

‘I don’t know if all the rugby league coaches in the Wallabies camp understand the breakdown, but somebody must sort this out,’ he wrote.

Eddie Jones – a noted fan of Australia’s top-flight league competition, the NRL – brought in former league stars Jason Ryles and Brad Davis, and also got legendary footy star Andrew Johns to take the team through sessions in the lead-up to the Cup.

It’s far from the first time Alan Jones has slammed his namesake.

Earlier this month he accused the Wallabies boss of taking the team backwards and repeatedly creating toxic environments in the teams he runs.

He used Jones’ time at the Queensland Reds as an example.

‘Things became so toxic in the changeroom that the players rebelled; and in the last game of the season, in 2007, Eddie Jones’ Queensland side was annihilated, 92-3 by the Bulls in South Africa,’ he wrote.

Alan Jones also blasted fact Eddie after he ‘churned through 18 coaches and 112 players’ while in charge of England, and accused him of hiring too many assistants in his current stint with the Wallabies, including a ‘learning coach’.

Earlier this year Alan Jones said Eddie ‘clearly displays character traits that psychologists would align with someone living with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).’

Watch every Test match and World Cup game, ad-free, live and on demand on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. 

Irish rugby fan abducted and gang-raped while in Bordeaux for the World Cup was found in a distressed state in the street by Welsh supporters it emerges as manhunt continues for her attackers

By Rachael Bunyan and Chris Jewers

Published: 02:55 EDT, 12 September 2023 | Updated: 04:00 EDT, 12 September 2023

Focusing only on winning your next game is the guiding principle to being a successful sports team.

If you win enough of them, you will find yourself in the World Cup final. The only time that becomes obscured is when warm-up games allow you to think about the bigger picture.

Even then, winning is important. England aren’t warming up for France right now. In fact, they’re currently stone cold. Considering everything that has happened over the past three weeks, it’s vital they beat Fiji on Saturday to spark some life into the team.

England should rip up their World Cup squad and start again. World Rugby rules permit a coach to take out players and bring new ones in up until August 28. Steve Borthwick should do exactly that.

It would be harsh to tell players who were expecting to go that they are no longer travelling to France. But as a head coach, you must make tough calls. And let’s be fair, the players haven’t set the world alight in the two games with Wales and defeat by Ireland. The message should be clear: ‘Sorry, but you’ve had your chance.’

I wrote before England’s loss to Ireland that they do not need to go full Bazball and emulate the men’s cricket side’s radical attacking selection and style of play.

But following the performance in Dublin, I’ve realised that is exactly what they should do if they are to ambush this World Cup. England must throw caution to the wind as they’re in a real corner now.

World Cups are not about development. They are about winning. Nothing else matters.

England’s performances have been way off the standard required in the warm-up games. Coupled with that, there have been red cards and suspensions for Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola.

Farrell will miss England’s opening two World Cup pool games against Argentina and Japan, and Vunipola the first of those. Those two matches have become even bigger than they were previously.

Make no mistake, England could lose both. They played into Argentina’s hands last autumn and were well beaten. They are on course to do the same again.

Sometimes, you have to tear up your plans. Borthwick has to react to ensure England are in the best possible place to beat Argentina and Japan.

If England bring in a host of new players for this weekend and it doesn’t work, then they haven’t lost anything. They can still revert to the current crop and double down. Given his ban, Vunipola should not go to the World Cup.

He is the only out-and-out No 8 in the squad and England can’t face Argentina with a non-specialist there. Ben Earl and Lewis Ludlam could do a job, but when a better No 8 is available you have to play him. I’d take out Vunipola and bring in Zach Mercer.

Vunipola is not the player of four years ago. Mercer would bring some much-needed pace to the team. Vunipola can rejoin the squad if there are injuries in France, which is almost a given.

I’d keep Farrell involved but for Fiji I’d bring in close to a whole new back line and tell them they’re playing for a World Cup spot.

As a coach you risk looking confused, but the flip side of that is fresh players could bring an entirely new dynamic. I’d have Alex Mitchell and Marcus Smith as my nine and 10.

To get the most out of Smith, he needs a back line equal to his attacking talents and a licence to play. With this in mind, I would consider playing Freddie Steward at inside centre.

Steward is a great defensive full back but England need a running threat there which is why I would play Anthony Watson. For too long England’s midfield thinking has been dominated by Manu Tuilagi.

We need to get creative. Steward is strong defensively and he would do well in midfield. New Zealand switched Jordie Barrett from 15 to 12 through necessity rather than by design and it has worked a treat. Against Fiji, I’d play Steward and Henry Slade at centre.

It was a big call to leave out Slade in the first place but the paucity of the side’s back line displays in the last three weeks has shown England badly miss his footballing ability.

I’d have Henry Arundell and possibly Max Malins on the wings but I’d seriously consider either Adam Radwan or Cadan Murley instead of Malins from outside the current squad. I like the look of Theo Dan at hooker with Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes all in my pack.

This will be the last World Cup for Lawes and possibly Itoje too. I want to see some real fireworks from our best two locks. My back row is Tom Curry and Earl on the flanks alongside Mercer.

England have nothing to lose now. Given the current direction of travel, it is conceivable that Borthwick’s team might not even qualify from their pool.

That would be unthinkable for English rugby and must be avoided at all costs.

My England side to face Fiji on Saturday: Anthony Watson; Adam Radwan, Henry Slade, Freddie Steward, Henry Arundell; Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Theo Dan, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes (capt), Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Zach Mercer 

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson made her first red carpet debut at The Logies on Sunday after losing a whopping 18kg.

The 48-year-old was the belle of the ball, showing off her super slim figure in a stylish red Effie Kats strapless gown. 

Jackie has undergone an extraordinary body transformation after she took two months off her top-rated The Kyle and Jackie O show in November last year to recover from long Covid. 

She returned to social media on New Year’s Eve last year, posting several photos of her slimmed-down figure in a swimsuit while holidaying with her daughter Kitty in Fiji.

In the caption, the mother-of-one wished her followers a Happy New Year and promoted her partnership with Weight Watchers (WW), saying she was feeling the ‘best she had’ in ‘many years’.

The star’s drastic slim-down became apparent again in February, when she started posting photos of herself with some of the guests on her radio show, including rapper Yung Gravy and Bravo king Andy Cohen. 

Jackie beamed in a long-sleeve T-shirt and tiny shorts as she stood next to the American rapper and her co-host Kyle Sandilands. 

Just weeks later, the blonde star showed off her slender frame again when she slipped into an oversized blue t-shirt and shorts as she posed alongside US Bravo king, Andy Cohen.

Since then Jackie has lost even more weight, which has led to the blonde being dogged by rumours she is taking the controversial weight-loss drug, Ozempic – of which she has denied. 

Last month Jackie complained she was the victim of trolls who claimed she had loss the weight as a result of Ozempic and not diet and exercise. 

Speaking on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, she said: ‘When I first lost weight and started to lose weight at the beginning of the year, it was all fine. And then when I lost a little bit more, people were suspicious that it came off very quickly.’

‘And since then I’d say, like, for the last 3 to 4 months, I’ve had people just so steadfast in their belief that I have not lost this the right way and I’ve done something else.’

Jackie insisted while it doesn’t matter how someone loses weight, she did it the healthy way.

‘I can’t say it enough that I have not done anything other than just eat well, exercise and give up alcohol,’ she said.

She explained the biggest change was her mindset, as she had previously struggled to shed unwanted kilos for the past three years because she ‘wasn’t in that right head space.’

‘I just was not motivated and I wasn’t mentally feeling well and so I just wasn’t there. I couldn’t find that motivation within me,’ she explained.

Directly addressing critics who said she was taking Ozempic, Jackie said: ‘That diabetic medication people talk about taking, I don’t take that.’ 

She has instead said she has stuck to intermittent fasting, zero alcohol and a healthy diet to shed the excess kilograms. 

Jackie, who recently started playing tennis regularly, added quitting alcohol and embracing exercise ‘was a big thing [she’d] never done before’. 

She also confirmed she didn’t even drink alcohol at Kyle’s wedding in April, choosing to go sober for the lavish occasion. 

Jackie also recently spoke about her new diet on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, revealing she often skips breakfast for intermittent fasting.

She avoids carbohydrates, and satiates her hunger throughout the day by snacking on pre-cut pieces of steak.

Jackie recently ended her partnership with WW – formerly Weight Watchers – saying she wanted to move on from weight loss. 

Appearing on Sunrise in July, she said: ‘Yeah. I think that [the partnership] has come to a natural end. They were incredible to me and they have helped me so much.’ 

The radio star went on to say she was broadening her focus in regards to her health after achieving her body goals through the program.

‘The focus for me is not on weight loss. I am really thankful they have helped me a lot,’ Jackie added.

‘I feel like I have my life in a really good place now. Healthy and happy.’

Jackie joined WW for the second time after suffering from her bout of long Covid, which forced her to step down from her radio show in November last year. 

Just before she went on hiatus she was open with listeners about her struggle. 

‘I’ve been not very well ever since I’ve had Covid… I’ve been struggling with this fatigue,’ she said at the time. 

‘I’ve been to the doctor several times and he said because I’ve been pushing myself every day, after the show all I’ve been doing is sleeping and I’m not getting better.’

Jackie went somewhat silent on social media during her break, posting no images to Instagram in November as she worked on her mental and physical health.