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England coach Eddie Jones. (Photo by Brendan Moran / Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Eddie Jones’ England’s future as coach is in the spotlight after a dismal Six Nations campaign.
England entered this year’s edition as reigning champions and Fall Nations Cup winner, but finished fifth, with only perennial Italy battling below them on the table.
Saturday’s 32-18 loss to Ireland in Dublin was a sad ending to a tournament in which England were also beaten by Scotland, at home, and Wales, the first time they were beaten by all three Celtic nations in the same campaign since 1976. Five Nations.
England also finished with a record penalty count against them and a negative point difference for the first time in 34 years.
Clive Woodward, the England team coach that beat Australia in the 2003 World Cup final when Jones was in charge of his native Wallabies, led a chorus of scathing criticism.
“It’s time for Eddie Jones to look in the mirror, not the window,” Woodward wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
“All the signs of England’s decline were there during 2020, when Jones refused to restart England’s tired game plan and take a look at some of the alternative talent.”
Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio said that even if Jones stayed, changes should be made to his backroom staff.
Jones, the highest paid coach in world rugby, agreed to a contract extension with the Rugby Football Union until the 2023 World Cup last April.
However, the agreement is understood to contain a break clause.
The RFU routinely conducts a review after every Six Nations. But Woodward asked if anyone in the Twickenham hierarchy had the “rugby brains” to question Jones correctly.
RFU CEO Bill Sweeney will now report to Chief Performance Officer Conor O’Shea, former Ireland defender and former Italy coach, as they plan their next move.
England’s victory in the Six Nations last year earned the RFU around 5 million ($ 7 million), but a fifth place will leave them with an unwanted deficit in a year hit by the coronavirus in which they anticipate losses of up to 35 million.
There have been reports that it will not be prohibitively expensive for the RFU to part ways with Jones.
But despite the poor campaign, Jones has significant bank credit since taking office after England’s first-round home exit at the 2015 World Cup.
England won three of the last Six Nations and Jones led them to the World Cup final in Japan in 2019, where they were defeated by South Africa.
They have often been slow during this year’s Six Nations, as well as during an impressive 23-20 win over title contender France.
His lackluster start may have had something to do with Jones’ decision to retain several senior players from the Saracens after the delayed start of the coronavirus in the second division championship.
The three-time European champions are currently playing in the second tier of the English game following their relegation from the Premiership for breach of the salary cap.
It meant England captain Owen Farrell, Billy Vunipola and Maro Itoje, among others, entered the Six Nations with little competitive playing time.
If Jones’ reliance on proven performers was understandable, his treatment of Test-match rookies was at times unnerving, with Worcester center Ollie Lawrence chosen to start against Scotland, falling after a game in which he barely received a pass.
The English manager’s repeated claim that England are a team in “transition” belied the fact that 11 of the 15 who took the field against Ireland also started the 2019 World Cup final.
Jones, for his part, still believes he can turn things around, accepting that fifth place is “unacceptable.”
“We still know where we are going,” he said.
“We need to play better. There is no reason why we shouldn’t. I think teams go through these periods of time and you come out much stronger than before.”
