Jones would have been worth waiting for – RFU

EDDIE Jones would have become England coach even if he had insisted on seeing out the first year of his contract with the Stormers, Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie said.

Ritchie, whose own position was in some doubt after England’s disastrous first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup they hosted, admits he knew Jones would bring a “certain amount of arrogance”, a very different trait to his down-to-earth predecessor Stuart Lancaster.

That allied to Australian Jones’s sublime coaching and motivational skills has proven a triumphant combination as England have gone through 2016 winning all 13 Tests – including the Six Nations Grand Slam and an historic 3-0 series win in Australia.

Ritchie told The Times newspaper he and the RFU were prepared to wait for their man had 56-year-old Jones and the Stormers insisted on him staying for at least a season. As a fallback option they would have installed Lancaster’s assistants, Andy Farrell, Mike Catt and Graham Rowntree as caretaker coaches.

Ritchie thought at first on landing in Cape Town last November he had no chance of securing Jones’s signature simply because of the breathtaking scenery.

However, Jones, who had boosted his stature with his handling of Japan at the World Cup, where they had pulled off one of the great sporting upsets in defeating South Africa, proved more malleable than he had feared. “It was clear he was interested in the job,” said Ritchie.

Jones even accepted his two recommendations of central contracts and not selecting players playing abroad.

Despite Jones’s acceptance of those points, Ritchie said it was evident Jones was no pushover. “It was very clear: Eddie is no shrinking violet and nor was he ever going to be. You want talented, committed people who have views of their own.” — AFP