The Rugby Football Union has leapt to the defence of Eddie Jones, insisting the under-fire England head coach has the governing body’s full support and making the remarkable claim it is “encouraged by the solid progress” despite another highly disappointing Six Nations campaign.
Evidence of progress is thin on the ground after England ended the tournament with a 25-13 defeat in France, ensuring a record of just two wins and three defeats, as was the case 12 months ago. The RFU will conduct a campaign debrief in the next fortnight and Jones will hold a review with feedback from his assistants and players. But in terms of Jones’s future, the mind of the chief executive, Bill Sweeney, is already made up. Indeed in its statement the RFU expressed no disappointment and made no hint of an apology towards England supporters.
As was the case last year, the debrief will be led by the RFU’s advisory panel which includes Sweeney, Conor O’Shea, the director of performance, and previous England players and coaches, whom the union refuses to name. Last year the review lamented a “suboptimal” campaign and listed a number of excuses for England’s poor performance but Jones emerged blameless.
Stuart Barnes, Andy Goode and Austin Healey are among the former England internationals calling for Jones to be sacked but an RFU spokesperson said: “Eddie Jones is building a new England team and against a clear strategy we are encouraged by the solid progress the team has made during this Six Nations campaign. The RFU continues to fully support Eddie, the coaching team and players and we are excited about the summer tour and the progress to rebuild a winning England team.
“Eddie and his team of coaches and players will conduct a full review as is normal after each tournament. The RFU advisory panel which consists of board and executive members, former players and coaches along with Eddie will also undertake a debrief to discuss the strong positive steps forward during this campaign and the areas we need to address. The advisory group has been in place since 2019 and it meets regularly both during and after each tournament to evaluate clear targets and progression.”
Jones said yesterday: “If I did not have the petrol in the tank then why would I be sitting here,” and has repeatedly talked of his New England project, insisting his side would come good by the World Cup next year. He claimed England were just 3% from where they wanted to be and urged disillusioned supporters to keep faith in him.
“They’ve got to have some faith,” he said.
“I think I’ve done a reasonable job for England for the past seven years. We’re going through a period now where we’re rebuilding the team and it takes time. We’ve rebuilt the side from the last Six Nations.
“I think the progress is very positive. The results aren’t the results we’d like – we’d all like to be winning tournaments and be at the top of the table, but we’re not quite good enough to do that now. But within the next 12 to 14 months when we prepare for the World Cup, we will be.
“There are areas of our game we need to improve and there is about probably a 3% gap between where we are and where we need to be.”
