Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'I'm sure the fans have doubts and feel that I don't know how to coach'

By PA
Eddie Jones, the England head coach looks on during the Autumn International match between England and South Africa at Twickenham Stadium on November 26, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has been told that England’s performance this autumn has fallen below expectations as the head coach accepts he faces an “uncomfortable” review.

ADVERTISEMENT

Over the next fortnight the Rugby Football Union is to investigate a dismal campaign that reached its nadir with Saturday’s conclusive 27-13 defeat by South Africa, who claimed a first win at Twickenham since 2014.

A rout that was greeted with boos at the final whistle completed England’s worst year since 2008, comprising of six losses, five wins and a draw.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

It places Jones’ future back in doubt with the review panel to examine “how improvements can be made ahead of the Six Nations” amid an acknowledgement from the RFU that the team have underperformed.

“We would like to thank England fans for their patience and support, it matters to us how they feel,” chief executive Bill Sweeney said.

“Like them we are really disappointed with the results of the Autumn Nations Series.

“Despite strong individual performances and some great new talent coming into the team, the overall results are not where we expect them to be.”

Related

On top of explaining why England barely fired a shot against the Springboks, Jones must also account for a first defeat by Argentina since 2008 and a 25-25 draw with New Zealand that was made possible by a dramatic late comeback.

ADVERTISEMENT

The only success this month was against a disappointing Japan, who were put to the sword 52-13.

“The reviews are always uncomfortable when you’re not winning. I haven’t found the review comfortable when you’re not winning,” Jones said.

“I’m sure the fans have doubts and feel that I don’t know how to coach, but it’s a progression to the World Cup and we have our ups and downs.

“We want to be stronger in the Six Nations and put ourselves in the position where we’re fourth or fifth going into the World Cup, ready to go.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

“I’ve got a plan for how England can win the World Cup, but it doesn’t go in a perfect line.

“Sometimes you need these games to make you understand the areas which need to be bolstered.

“We’re not off track. You have days like against South Africa. I’ve had worse days than that.

“We felt really confident going into the game. We knew where South Africa were coming, but on the day we weren’t good enough to win those areas.”

Jones blamed the Springboks defeat on his side’s scrummaging issues, adding that he has “grave concerns about how the scrum was refereed”, without expanding on what those were.

Since 2019 the RFU has conducted a review after every block of fixtures but declined to reveal who sits on the panel beyond that it includes “board and executive members along with independent, former players and coaches”.

However, in a departure from the unequivocal backing offered to Jones when the 2022 Six Nations ended in three defeats for the third time in five years, there was no mention of support for England’s head coach this time.

Related

While he faces renewed scrutiny, Jones has been well backed by Sweeney in the past and is not expected to be sacked.

His eight-year reign ends after the 2023 World Cup with the RFU hoping to name his successor in May having reportedly drawn up a three-strong shortlist consisting of Steve Borthwick, Ronan O’Gara and Scott Robertson.

Sir Clive Woodward has led the criticism following the crushing defeat by South Africa, declaring that the result completed the “worst week in English rugby history” and that the game in this country is a “total shambles”.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

4 Comments
C
Cameron 708 days ago

I feel like England fans need to relax and look at the facts. England are still to settle on a starting XV and Im sure they are intentionally playing narrowly because Eddie knows there wont be much width to play with in the knock out stages of the RWC. He's not interested in winning one of tests and the Six Nations. He's trying to win a world cup and this is his last shot. No point in showing your hand now. Eddie has said it before.....'rope a dope'.

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 708 days ago

To the World Cup, to the World Cup, to the World Cup: Goodness me, the infinite deferral of any shred of meaning and substance from Eddie Money Man Jones would shame the staunchest acolyte of Derrida.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour 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.

43 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'World-class finisher' offers All Blacks selection solution Mark Tele'a scores a double at Allianz Stadium
Search