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Steve Brown, Chief Executive of the Rugby Football Union, has told RugbyPass that Eddie Jones’ overall win record is strong enough to keep the Australian in post as their chosen man to bring success to English rugby.
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Brown admitted to being disappointed with England’s lost series in South Africa and that England finished a desperate fifth in the Six Nations but it seems that credit in the bank in terms of previous results is keeping Jones’ reputation intact.
Brown told RugbyPass, “To be honest with you, what we’re looking at is the cumulative position that we’ve had since Eddie’s been in post which is still a very successful win rate – one of our greatest ever actually. So that gives us some confidence going into the future, as well as the plans about the autumn international and more importantly, the World Cup next year.”
England’s next opponents will be South Africa at Twickenham, followed by New Zealand, Japan and Australia. Anything less than three wins will be seen as further concern that Jones’ England side are a long way from looking like potential world champions in 2019.
Brown continued, “We’re absolutely confident in Eddie’s situation and plans for the future. No one gets unconditional guarantees or support in this – I don’t have them and Eddie wouldn’t have them. The key is that we have a good plan for the future, we’ve got a good idea about selection, we have a good strategy for the World Cup and the preparation for that and we get the right selection and we’re in a good place. It’s more about thinking about how well we’re going to do in those coming games as opposed to planning for failure, we really do think about it in terms of success.”
In other news: RFU reveal ambitious plans for women’s XV
