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Exclusive: Eddie Jones was England's fallback option

Ex-England boss Eddie Jones (Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images for Barbarians)

Nick Mallett had not one but two sliding doors moments when it came to dealings with the RFU.

Highly respected as a player and as a coach, the Oxford-educated 68-year-old has revealed in the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office how close he was to becoming the head coach of the country of his birth.

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The RFU could have had the dream ticket of Mallett and Wayne Smith running the show at the home 2015 World Cup but chose Stuart Lancaster instead. And they could also have been spared the drama of the Eddie Jones regime had Mallett said yes to their offer second time around.

However, by then, the timing was all wrong and the chances of appointing Mallett, who led the Springboks on a record 17-match winning run in his three-year tenure as head coach between 1997-2000, had gone.

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Nick Mallett explains why he once turned down an offer to coach England | RPTV

Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett explains why he once turned down an offer to coach England | RPTV

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Nick Mallett explains why he once turned down an offer to coach England | RPTV

Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett explains why he once turned down an offer to coach England | RPTV

Watch now

“At the end of 2011, I was approached and I was interviewed for it, and that’s when they gave it to Stuart Lancaster. I actually thought I was in with a shout. I had Wayne Smith who was going to coach with me and I thought that we would have had a good four years,” he told former Springboks Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger.

“And then they asked when Lancaster didn’t get them out of their pool in 2015. My agent got a call to say they are offering you the job. They said, ‘you don’t have to interview for it, we feel we made a mistake last time’.

“But by that time I’d had four years at SuperSport. I phoned up Wayne Smith and said, ‘what’s your story?’ and he said, ‘I am tied in with New Zealand and I wouldn’t look at it again’.

“Your assistant coach is very important, the guy you work with is very, very important, so I turned it down and that’s when they gave it to Eddie.”

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Hereford-born Mallett ended up coaching Stade Francais in France before being appointed as head coach of Italy, a position which he held for four years, between 2007 and 2011.

Other than the Barbarians and the World XV he hasn’t coached internationally since but Mallett doesn’t look back with any regrets at how things panned out, especially with the high level of scrutiny that Test coaches have to endure.

“The fact that I am sitting here now, I’ve had two heart ablations, is probably because I turned it down,” he said of the missed opportunities with England.

“I get really passionately involved with rugby so if I invest as much as that and suddenly there’s social media and there’s criticism and all the stress, it is just horrible.

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“It’s like a boxer, when you start out you can take punches and then suddenly at the end of  your career you can’t take them as well anymore.”

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Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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Nickers 31 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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