It was after watching their World Cup quarter-final loss to France that the Welshman with whom I was sharing a dollop of schadenfreude gave this majestic pronouncement: “It’s the sheer bloody arrogance of the English, their sense of entitlement that they deserve to win everything, that’s what annoys the rest of us.”
Now before you think this is a ‘let’s all laugh at England’ diatribe, let me assure you it is not. After all, unlike Scotland they have won World Cups in the round and oval ball games and they were at Qatar and we weren’t. Yet the dismissal of head coach Eddie Jones is one more proof that England, and especially the RFU, really do think they should win everything.
On sheer number terms they should. England has more players by far than any other rugby nation in these islands, third only to France and South Africa globally in the number of registered players. Their professional teams are richer than most elsewhere, even if the collapse of Wasps and Worcester showed that some owners have ingested a miasma of ambition without the concomitant moolah necessary to achieve their dreams.
It’s the dismissal of Jones, however, which shows that the RFU really does think that Twickenham is the home of the masters of the universe. I have to confess I have always had a soft spot for Eddie, not least because he brought humour to the sport – sometimes a little off the mark, but mostly funny. Nor could his successes be ignored. He started with a Grand Slam, took England on a record beating run, and masterminded their brilliant run in the World Cup of 2019 that included his finest hour with a non-pareil coaching performance to deliver that incredible semi-final win over the All Blacks. That England comprehensively blew it in the final against South Africa was hardly his fault ass the squad simply did not deliver his game plan – I said that at the time and have not changed my opinion since.
Jones should have walked away then, as his contract expired at the end of the 2019 tournament. As it was he stayed on and at the time of his dismissal he was still the most successful coach in English history in terms of his winning percentage.
I am reliably informed that Scotland played no little part in his downfall. There is nothing more calculated to annoy the blazers at Twickenham than having to watch those upstart Scots waltz off with the Calcutta Cup, and after this year’s match Jones was effectively told improvement must be forthcoming as he was losing the stands – and the RFU depends vastly on revenues at Twickers for its finances.
The loss to Argentina at Twickenham at the beginning of last month was the result that put Jones’s coat on the proverbial shoogly nail, and thumping Japan and gaining a draw against the All Blacks was not enough to preserve his job after South Africa triumphed over an England side that looked to have run out of ideas. The anonymous review panel concluded that it was Jones who had run out of mojo and time, and all the nice words dished out about jones could not hide the plain fact that in a results-driven business his poor run in the last year got him sacked.
Still, to do that to the man with just nine months to the World Cup is a huge gamble by the RFU. Get rid of the coach who, after all, took England to the World Cup Final and replace him with someone who will not rival Jones for experience – his former number two Steve Borthwick being the most likely candidate – is a big ask for whoever gets the job. And all this at a time when English club rugby is having to reorganise.
Yet come next autumn, England’s RFU and the fans will still think they are going to win the World Cup. They won’t – France remain my favourites, I should add. If Borthwick or whoever gets the job can hit the ground running, then they can still turn the English ship around. I hae ma doots about that, however, especially if Scotland can make it three Calcuttas in a row for the first time since the 1970s..
I can’t close this week’s column without mentioning Jim Taylor MBE who passed away at the age of 67 last week. I know how hard he worked for the Hearts & Balls rugby charity which supports seriously injured players like himself, Jim having been disabled since a scrum collapse in a club game back in 1978. He was rightly acclaimed as a legend of Glasgow rugby and his devotion to the Warriors over a dozen years was exemplary. When I think of him I always see the man and not the ‘wheels’ as more than one player called him, but now I can write that from his wheelchair, Jim Taylor towered over most people.
