Former Japan rugby head coach Eddie Jones said on Tuesday that he is interested in coaching the Brave Blossoms again, but, so far, he has not received an offer.
Speaking with Kyodo News in Yokohama, the 63-year-old Australian said he had not scheduled an interview or held any formal discussions about the Japan coaching job, which remains vacant following the departure of Jamie Joseph after the recent World Cup in France.
"I've had no offer, let's be clear," Jones said. "If they (Japan) came to me and said, are you interested in coaching them, I'd definitely be interested."
Frans Ludeke, the highly credentialed South African coach of Japan Rugby League One champions Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay, is among the Japan Rugby Football Union's candidates and is set to be interviewed this month.
Last month, Jones tendered his resignation as coach of Australia in the first year of a five-year contract after the Wallabies failed to advance from the World Cup pool stage for the first time ever in France.
Having strenuously denied a report that he had been exploring a return to Japan while still coaching the Wallabies, Jones indicated that a lack of financial support for Australian rugby prompted his decision to quit.
"When I started with Australia, part of the conditions was that they make changes to the system because Australia has been unsuccessful for 20 years now, so we needed to make changes with how the Super Rugby teams interact with the national team," Jones said.
"We needed a more centralized approach, which requires money. In the end, they couldn't get the money. So, whilst I'm disappointed to be leaving, I've left them what I feel is a good young team that can go well at the next World Cup."
Jones remains an esteemed figure in Japanese rugby for engineering the Brave Blossoms' historic upset of South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
He later coached England to the runners-up trophy at the 2019 World Cup in Japan but was sacked last December before opting to coach his country's national team for the second time, having previously taken the Wallabies to the 2003 final on home soil.
Jones, who has Japanese heritage through his mother and has a Japanese wife, said rugby in Japan "has always been like my passion," after coaching or holding advisory roles in the country since the 1990s, including an early stint as national assistant coach in 1996.
While he believes Joseph "did a fantastic job" at the past two World Cups, Jones said Japan needed a major overhaul to achieve the goal of becoming an elite rugby nation.
"Japan can't stay where they are because if they stay where they are, they'll actually start to slide. So they've got to make a big push now," he said.
"You're going to have to be courageous, and you're going to have to do things differently. You can't just go along and do what you're doing now. So that's the reason I would be interested."
Related coverage:
Rugby: Rugby Australia confirms head coach Jones' resignation
Rugby: South Africa eke out 1-point win over New Zealand in RWC final
Rugby: John Kirwan won't coach Japan but is interested in supremo role
