So fair play to Eddie Jones for signing a four-year deal with the RFU, replacing Stuart Lancaster in the hottest of European rugby hot seats.
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The 2015 Rugby World Cup, where England became the 1st host nation ever to fail to advance from their group, emphasised how far ahead of the pack southern hemisphere teams at present are-& the same can be stated for the coaches.
The Rugby Football Union – the world’s richest union – said it wanted to hire a coach with proven experience of worldwide rugby, unlike Lancaster, and Jones fitted the bill.
After spells with the Queensland Reds and Saracens, the 55 year old took up a technical advisor role with the Springboks in 2007 helping the South Africans win their second World Cup having beaten England twice, once in the pool stages and then again in the final.
“I’m now looking forward to working with the RFU and the players to move beyond the disappointment England suffered at the World Cup”.
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Jones’s Japan side won countless admirers for their expansive game at the recent World Cup, but Jones promised that he would concentrate first on helping to England rediscover the traditional power of their set-piece play, which was so disappointing at the World Cup.
“And while it might sound like lip-service to some I am absolutely convinced that the talent amongst the coaching and playing staff here will continue to see Western Province excel at all levels in the future”.
“If Cipriani’s good enough to be in the 30, he’ll be in the 30”, Jones said.
“I have to appraise the coaches that are in place first and work out if we need to make changes”.
As things stand, England’s players are under contract to their clubs not the RFU, who also operate a policy of refusing to select anyone at an overseas side for Test duty save in “exceptional circumstances”.
“It’s a very exciting opportunity”, Jones told a Twickenham press conference on Friday afternoon.
“But I do wish the RFU’s CEO Ian Ritchie had taken his time and considered some of our top Premiership coaches – in particular Rob Baxter at Exeter, Northampton’s Jim Mallinder and Dean Ryan at Worcester – who I believe could do the job”. “I’m happy with that”.
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He guided Australia to the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney where England’s Jonny Wilkinson sent over a last minute drop kick to break Australian hearts. “If they can offer what I want, they’ll have the job”, said the Australian before expressing his desire to nurture domestic talent in his backroom staff. “One of the goal is to have assistant coaches who by 2019 are ready to takeover”.
