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Former Australia coach Eddie Jones predicts Dave Rennie will rejuvenate the Wallabies and hopes the days of complacent management at RA are over.
Eddie Jones is sure the Wallabies will improve under Dave Rennie and hopes the new-look Rugby Australia management can also hit higher standards to help resuscitate the sport.
England head coach Jones says complacency has dogged RA since he finished his Wallabies tenure 15 years ago but believes replacing Michael Cheika with Rennie was a winning strategic move.
RA interim chief executive Rob Clarke confirmed a range of financial cuts to the organisation on Tuesday although he revealed Rennie would assume his new role on full pay.
Clarke also said the high-performance budget would be largely unaffected, a move applauded by Jones, who reckons a successful Wallabies team can drive interest back into the sport in Australia.
Jones says New Zealander Rennie is a proven and no-nonsense operator at domestic level with the Chiefs and Glasgow.
"He'll bring a lot of steel, he'll bring a lot of desire back to the players," Jones told Sky Sport NZ.
"He'll galvanise the team and they'll go back to playing some really good rugby.
"That'll lift some spirits at Australian Rugby and then if the board can sort themselves out, if they can get all their leather patches in the right places, they might be alright.
"The track record shows there's been a fair degree of complacency in Australian rugby.
"They've allowed things to drift along for a period of time. They haven't paid a lot of attention to player development and coach development and I think that's really hurting them."
Jones said the introduction of a global season in which international windows are aligned would be another important breakthrough for Australia.
It would allow some creativity to enter the scheduling, he said, including longer tours of rival nations.
"The most fun I've had over the last couple of years was taking England to Australia for a three-Test series (in 2016)," he said.
"I thought that was fantastic. Because we won 3-0, obviously it helps."
