Eddie Jones has revealed that no matter how England fare in France next year it will not be his last Rugby World Cup.
Jones’ declaration came as England brace themselves for the loss of defence coach Anthony Seibold, who has been lined up to become new head coach of NRL side Manly Sea Eagles.
The Rugby Football Union would only say they “expect” Seibold, who was appointed a year ago, to remain with the team through next month’s four-Test campaign.
The last of those Twickenham Tests, against world champions South Africa on November 26, is little more than nine months out from France 2023.
It will be Jones’ fifth World Cup and the first time he has led a team into back-to-back tournaments.
Given it will be eight years since he famously said “I’m getting too old for this, I should be in Barbados watching cricket”, it was widely expected to be his swansong.
But the Australian said: “No. Definitely not. It won’t be.”
Reminded of his Barbados remark, he replied: “That’s true [I did say that], but I reckon there’s still a bit to do.
“There’s still a bit in the tank. I rang up the (boss of the) Barbados IPL and he’s not interested!”
Jones’ contract with the RFU expires at the end of the World Cup and the RFU say the plan is to appoint an English successor.
Australia, whom Jones coached to the 2003 final on home soil, are keen to have him back on board for when the tournament returns Down Under in 2027.
The 62-year old insists he is not looking beyond next autumn which he has no doubt will be the most competitive ever.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it as open as this, probably because of the stages that teams are at in their cycle,” he said.
“Look at France, they’ve probably had three years together so they’re almost set in stone.
“Ireland are about the same, whereas New Zealand are going through a transition period now - and South Africa are about to; they’re going to go through a difficult stage.
“Australia are still going through theirs, whereas we’ve probably been through ours and now we’ve got the young guys coming through.
“So we’re all in various developmental stages and the last 12 months is a foot-race – who can get their team to gel, get them right and ready for the World Cup.”
Jones concedes that in 2019, when England lost the final, “we just didn’t have enough in the tank” after beating Australia and New Zealand.
“We definitely got the physical preparation of the team right, but I don’t know if we got the mental preparation right,” he said. “This time we’re going to have to be smarter with how we do it.”
