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Pressure building on Eddie Jones as RFU 'expects success' in November internationals
By Ben Spratt
The heat on England coach Eddie Jones has been turned up a notch, with RFU Chief Executive Steve Brown ‘expecting success’ in the autumn test series that will host the superpowers of the Southern Hemisphere – the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies.
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The RFU have completed their review and concluded that Jones is safe for now.
“I’ve reflected over the time Eddie has been at his post and his win rate. The win rate is still very high [80%] – it’s significant and it’s hard to argue against it,” Brown said.
“It’s important that we don’t just make a judgment on what’s happened in the very short term. Nevertheless, it was a pretty poor run of results.
“We showed great character for the result in Cape Town but the series result was disappointing. So was the Six Nations. Coming fifth in the Six Nations was a pretty difficult situation.
England lost five consecutive tests as they slumped to a fifth-place finish in the Six Nations before losing the June test series against South Africa in the first two matches. A win in the dead rubber third test relieved some of the pressure mounting on Jones.
With such a dire run of results, expectations have only been increased.
“We plan to win every game we play. We expect success in the autumn. I don’t want to predict failure, I’d rather predict success, but that’s not in blind faith. They’re all big matches. We’re planning to come out of the other side successful,” said Brown.
“I’ve discussed this with Eddie and I’m confident those disappointing results are behind us and can be turned around.”
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World Cup winner Mike Tindall believes England can still be a great side under Eddie Jones, despite their disappointing results in 2018.
Tindall is confident Jones can again get England playing the sort of rugby that made them Six Nations Grand Slam winners in 2016, as they went unbeaten through his first year in charge.
“The way [Jones] handles the media, the way he handles players is fine and dandy when you’re winning,” Tindall told Omnisport.
“You’re always going to then come under pressure if that flips around. Normally you wouldn’t expect them to go and lose four or five games on the bounce.
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“They’re not far away from being that great team that they were in the first year and a half under Eddie’s control, so he’s just got to find a way of getting them back to that.”
George Gregan, Jones’ captain with Australia, is also backing the England boss to turn his fortunes around.
“It’s a results-driven business, professional sport, and Eddie is all about results,” Gregan said. “He went in there and spoke about how he wants to prepare this team to go and win a World Cup.
“There were always going to be some losses but it’s how you learn from those and how they put themselves in a position to get better.
“He’s a quick learner and I know that team will want to get back to their winning ways. They’re a dangerous team.”
Mike Tindall and George Gregan were speaking at the Icons of Rugby event at the Buckinghamshire Golf Club.
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