Even on a dark midweek January evening a warm glow covers the Twickenham turf. It turns out to be from the portable lights helping the winter grass to grow but the golden touch of Eddie Jones still feels all-pervasive. Ask him to forecast the outcome of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final and his prediction is similarly illuminating. “England v New Zealand,” comes the instant reply. “England to win by a point. It’ll be a cracking game.”

Welcome to the 2017 edition of the Fast Eddie show. Never mind his team have almost as many walking wounded as an NHS waiting room, their coach still exudes total certainty. Did you know England’s next managerial signing will be a woman, that he reckons this summer’s Lions captaincy is already a done deal and that Dylan Hartley may be into his final furlong as national captain? Or that Jones deliberately selects players whose parents separated when they were young? To suggest Jones is one jump ahead of the game is a major insult; he tends to be two or three in front, minimum.

While the rest of Europe awaits the Six Nations Championship, for example, Jones was hosting a brainstorming session on Tuesday on how to win big tournaments in Japan. Among those summoned were Danny Mills, a member of England’s 2002 football World Cup squad, and Dave Reddin, the Football Association’s head of team strategy and performance. Jones knows Japan inside out, having coached the national side, but still wants to canvas other opinions: “Everyone thinks Japan’s going to be easy but it’s going to be bloody difficult. It’s important we start to get an understanding of that now.”

Jones is not yet booking his squad Japanese lessons but, clearly, nothing will be left to chance. “I’ve always been driven to be the best,” he says, happy to share the secrets of his ascent from an unglamorous southerly Sydney suburb to rugby coaching’s summit.

It has certainly been a dizzying year for England since he arrived but, even after 13 straight wins in 2016, there is no lull.

Although it is not yet official, Dr Sherylle Calder, the South African vision coach, is poised to join England’s management to improve the squad’s hand-eye coordination. A member of Clive Woodward’s backroom staff at the 2003 World Cup, she also assisted in South Africa’s 2007 success and Jones is a huge fan: “She’s got two gold medals, mate. I used her in Japan with Suntory and we won everything, three or four trophies.”

Eddie Jones, pictured in a dressing room at Twickenham, says the Six Nations will be the only opportunity in 2017 to play his strongest side. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Next up is some mixed news for Hartley, his captain. On the plus side Jones will pick him against France in the Six Nations opener on 4 February – “Dylan will definitely be right” – despite the hooker having played no recent rugby because of suspension. Less comforting is that Jones is looking at appointing a replacement leader sooner rather than later: “Dylan’s our ‘foundation’ captain but the next two years will be our [2019] tournament captain. Whether that’s Dylan – it’s a possibility – or someone else is something we’ll appraise.”

Nor, interestingly, does Jones, who turns 57 this month, think any of his top Englishmen should be put in charge of next summer’s Lions team. “I think the captain has to be a guaranteed selection and the guy who stands out at this stage is Alun Wyn Jones. He’s a hard Test player. I don’t think it’s any coincidence he’s just been made captain of Wales.”

Does he detect the hand of Warren Gatland in Wales’s switch from Sam Warburton? “Yeah, probably. The writing’s on the wall there.”

It is classic Jones: mischievous and relentlessly smart. He expects the Lions tour to drain several players, so is already planning to rest them next autumn and expand his squad’s depth. “I see this Six Nations as the only opportunity [in 2017] to play our strongest squad. Now even that’s gone because we’ve had so many injuries.”

On that front, he insists Joe Marler, recovering from a broken leg, is more likely to face France than his fellow casualty George Kruis. “We’re working out how we can put the pack together. That’ll be the balancing act. Finding out which guys are absolutely indispensable and how many minutes we can get out of them.”

I couldn’t have done this job eight years ago, with the RFU saying: ‘You’ve got to do this.’ I’d have wanted a fight

It is interesting to recall now that some did not want a wild-eyed Australian in charge of England. They did not realise he had mellowed slightly. “I couldn’t have done this job eight years ago. I wouldn’t have been happy with the RFU saying: ‘You’ve got to do this.’ I’d have wanted to have a fight – and to win that fight. I don’t have the obsession to control everything now. Ten years ago I’d have been going bananas about the colour of our second jersey. Now I accept there are commercial imperatives.”

A stroke in 2013 – he spent six weeks in hospital in Japan and was temporarily paralysed down his left side – also nurtured a sense of perspective. “I probably enjoy it more now. I look at it as a second chance to do things properly. When I had the stroke I was thinking: ‘Will I ever get the chance to coach again?’ I don’t think I’m any less driven but it’s made me a bit more balanced.”

Really? “Well, there are still times when I’m not balanced … I want us to be the best in the world and that means you can’t take your foot off the pedal.”

This inner determination was not exactly diluted by his childhood. One day, with his father Ted away on military service in Vietnam, a volunteer came to the family house to tend the lawn, only to refuse to cut the grass when he saw Jones’s mother, Nellie, was Japanese. “I remember that as clear as day,” Jones says. “I also remember playing for NSW against Queensland when their prop called me a Chinese so-and-so. I said: ‘Mate, you’re so stupid you don’t know the difference between Chinese and Japanese.’ Back then in Australia you were either white or Aboriginal. There weren’t any Asians. When you’re young you want to be liked and you have to be good at something. The only thing I could be good at was sport. It’s no use being academic in Australia … no one worries about that. Only two people out of my high school went to university.”

Jones, who was fortunate enough to play alongside the Ella brothers and David Campese at his local club, Randwick, made more than 150 first-team appearances as a combative and inquisitive, if lightweight, hooker. “The thing I learned at Randwick is you should never be satisfied. You can always get better. Campese could torpedo the ball 60 metres. Why? Because before every training session he’d be out there practising 30 minutes before anyone else.”

Eddie Jones says Dylan Hartley will be in his captain for the Six Nations opener against France but may not be in that role for the 2019 World Cup. Photograph: Paul Childs/Reuters

Since switching to paid coaching in 1994 from teaching – one of his two older sisters is an architect, the other works in fashion design while his daughter works for the Australian Rugby Union – he has tirelessly promoted the same message. He claims to be getting more sleep these days but still exists on only five hours per night and feels most productive during his daily 6am run: “I generally have a few ideas at that time. I’m definitely not as creative as Clive [Woodward] but I’m probably more pragmatic. When I have an idea I try and drive it home as much as I can.”

His favourite innovation of 2016 was the shorter, more intense training schedule that has transformed England’s self-confidence. “The difference in fitness levels between teams is marginal. When you see teams that look tired and unfit it’s normally because [tapping his head] they’re clouded up here. We’ve been very certain about how we want to play.” Defence and a stronger set-piece are the next two priorities, with a more lethal counterattacking game still to come.

Selection-wise he has also found it helps to be an Australian outsider, with those who have endured tricky childhoods of particular interest. “I talk to them about their backgrounds and you get a pretty good idea. Someone like [Leicester’s] Mike Williams … his family lost their farm in Zimbabwe, he’s here for all the right reasons. He’s got to play rugby to feed his family. All the world’s best players have some sort of massive desire to do something.”

Even potential off-field trouble-makers are not instantly written off. “You can be intellectually the dumbest guy but still be the smartest rugby player. You can’t just say a player doesn’t fit the bill. If they give you something different you’ve got to work with them.”

So where does that leave, say, Danny Cipriani?

“If he was better than George Ford or Owen Farrell I’d pick him. I don’t think flair players are ever obsolete but they’ve got to win you games.”

Perhaps, like his favourite football manager Pep Guardiola – “I think he’s a brilliant coach, it just shows how difficult that league is” – Jones’s golden aura will eventually dim. Or maybe not. As he told the Sydney Morning Herald last year: “I don’t want to be Dame Edna Everage, a popular Australian, I just want to give English rugby a winning team.”

That crucial distinction, he believes, is filtering through: “In the past there was too much importance placed on playing for England, rather than winning for England.” Not any more, as he believes New Zealand and co will discover in 2019.

The digested Jones

What makes you happiest? The team I’m coaching playing well, with both passion and technical and tactical excellence.

What irritates you most? A lack of effort.

Biggest fear? Going to a restaurant and the food not being any good. My wife hates poor quality food.

Do you have a hidden talent? Zero. Although I did have a good arm-ball when I was an off-spinner.

Current book? Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet. I’ve got a whole pile of those kind of leadership books. You can never stop learning.

Favourite TV Show? Match of the Day. I love the post-game analysis part. I don’t know any better so what they’re saying seems very sensible to me.

Marmite or Vegemite? Marmite. They’re a sponsor, aren’t they?

Advice for ambitious coaches? Never think you know it all.