Reuters Chris Robshaw was last night facing the prospect of showdown talks with new England head coach Eddie Jones.
Advertisement
The Australian sounded all the right notes when conducting his first press conference yesterday afternoon, just hours after the Rugby Football Union announced he had agreed a four-year contract which will encompass the next World Cup.
“I’d like to think the teams I’ve coached have had good attacking games”.
Stuart Lancaster stepped down almost a fortnight ago, paying the ultimate price for England’s World Cup disaster, but his lieutenants Andy Farrell, Graham Rowntree and Mike Catt have remained in place for now.
Ritchie said: “Eddie is a world-class coach, with extensive experience at the highest level with Australia, South Africa and Japan”.
Jones said in an interview with the website ESPN Scrum.
“When I was appointed at Western Province there was no vacancy within the RFU and I never envisaged this opportunity to come forward”, he said.
“After I’ve done that appraisal, I will work out what we’re going to have going forward”. Jones is not comprehending taking on the job beyond 2019 – “I will be 59 then, I will be watching cricket in Barbados” was his answer to prospects four years and beyond – and he has been charged with identifying and tutoring his successor.
“If they can offer what I want then they can have the job, if they can’t then I’ll look elsewhere. This is one of the biggest unions in the world”. I’m sure we can do that. Could Stuart Lancaster’s strength be in developing the wider character of the team culture and individuals, leaving a new “super coach” like Jones to run their finishing school and focus on results?
“I’ve got an idea of how rugby is played”.
Jones, unsurprisingly, said he would look to take the best of both worlds to develop a style unique to England.
“If it was the toughest job in the game I’d still be sitting in Cape Town”, came the Australian’s typically sharp riposte, referring to the job he had just left after seven days. ‘There are two things you need to win a game of rugby, ‘ said Jones. “You’ve got to think like an English player”, was his take and he will be aiming to utilise the widespread talent at his disposal.
“I want them to understand that is finished when they get to the national team and they’ve got to take that off. If you want to wear that jersey underneath your England jersey, you can’t play for England”. Secondly, whatever values we’ve got in the team such as hard work, they’ve got to live those values. “I’m happy with what we’ve got”, he added. If he was, then this appointment will be greatly satisfying for the man whose role is very much under the spotlight with this appointment. And when he moved up to the senior team he says while “the profile was a bit daunting but the actual coaching, I backed my own philosophy and was confident”.
“Sometimes you see things differently when you’re on the outside”, said Jones in regards to the RFU’s overseas rule.
“Like all the other players, they’re all starting on zero”. If he does, he will be asked to pack his Quins kit when he turns up for Jones’s first squad session in January as the head coach draws up a distinct line between club and country. “Everyone wants England to do well”.
Advertisement
England are more than capable of being the best team in Europe, and they will have a chance to prove that in February when the Six Nations begins, but until they start playing faster, smarter rugby, they will struggle to match global rugby’s elite.
