Eddie Jones and England have arrived in Australia for a tour that will not, as much as many fans and pundits think it should, decide his future as head coach.
Jones will remain in charge until the end of next year’s World Cup in France, taking him to eight years and two global tournaments in the job. It has been a tumultuous time of highs and lows, of player and staff turnover. And while this tour may have minimal bearing on his job security, it will set the tone for how this final chapter goes.
Despite having his wings clipped a few times over the years, Jones remains extremely powerful at Twickenham. And the one man he reports to, CEO Bill Sweeney, is currently recovering from a pulmonary embolism. The good news for Sweeney is that the picture of life after Jones — a sticking point throughout his tenure — is looking a little clearer now.
In Steve Borthwick, a realistic candidate has emerged from the Premiership. The ex-England captain is just 42, but has done a fine job to guide Leicester to the title this year. Borthwick worked under Jones with Japan and England and took the Tigers job at a low ebb. Not even he can believe how quickly he has turned things around.
He heads a cabal of younger English coaches making their mark, with Alex Sanderson (Sale) and George Skivington (Gloucester) also impressive in different ways. So whatever happens with Shaun Edwards, who the RFU have made a habit of avoiding, there are English options for England’s coaching staff when Jones goes.
For the next 18 months it is all about Jones, though. England landed in Perth, where it has been raining for once, this week, and were straight into the Indian Ocean for a team-building dip. For what feels like the umpteenth time in his reign, Jones is having to pull a slightly disparate group of old and new faces.
Australia have been his favourite opponents, with eight wins from eight. Half of those have represented real high points — the whitewash tour of 2016, the World Cup quarter-final romp in Oita — and he has always understood how to play the wind-up merchant in Australia week. In 2016, he memorably banged on about he Bodyline series to the general bafflement of his players.
There has been little of those histrionics before this tour, Jones keeping his answers simple and not spiky, perhaps a recognition that things are not going that well. England finished with two wins from five for the second successive Six Nations and have just suffered a humbling loss against the Barbarians.
The scene was similar four years ago, England had a transformational series in South Africa, losing 2-1 as Jones entered the final phase of the World Cup cycle. Staples of the early part of his tenure — Dylan Hartley, Chris Robshaw, Mike Brown, James Haskell — either reached the end on that tour, or the beginning of the end. Tom Curry was the one diamond to emerge, and proved a catalyst for improvement.
This time, Jones has gone in a different direction. While there are eight uncapped players, he has gone back to a few he suggested he had moved on from. Recalled are Danny Care, 35, who last played in 2018, and Mako and Billy Vunipola, 31 and 29 respectively, who last played in the 2021 Six Nations. Others dropped after that tournament, like Jamie George and George Ford, have returned since then, too. Elliot Daly has been back in and out again.
For all the losses and the class acts Jones continues to overlook, there is plenty of quality in this England squad
Jones’s position is weakened by a series of injuries to important players. Kyle Sinckler is his only Test class tighthead. The absence of Sam Simmonds and Alex Dombrandt leaves Vunipola as the only specialist No8. In the midfield, George Ford, Henry Slade and, most damagingly, Manu Tuilagi, are all injured. Ben Youngs has been rightly rested to be with his family, and to get a full pre-season ahead of a campaign that, at 33, will test him.
This is England, though, so for all the losses and the class acts he continues to overlook, there is plenty of quality in the squad, and exciting combinations to explore, not least Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell in the midfield, with Joe Cokanasiga roaming beyond them.
In the 2019 cycle, a squad refreshed on the South Africa tour started to click in the 2018 autumn internationals, put in some outstanding showings in the Six Nations that followed, then spent three months working together before the World Cup. That is the blueprint for Jones, and it starts now.
