Jones to lead World Cup charge no matter what
Eddie Jones has been backed to lead England Rugby to the 2019 Rugby World Cup without the need for an oversight to assess his decision-making, with Rugby Football Union chief executive Steve Brown admitting that “the first person that puts Eddie straight is Eddie”.
The fifth-place finish in this year’s Six Nations, England worst result in 31 years, has triggered questions of Jones’ approach in his role and head coach and who is holding him to account for his decisions. At present Brown is Jones’ immediate line manager, but throughout the Australian’s two-and-a-half year reign he has assumed an all-controlling role with little-to-no interference from above given the success that he has
brought the nation.
But after back-to-back Six Nations titles and series wins in Australia and Argentina, Jones is going through a rough period following the dismal championship campaign that ended on Saturday in a 24-15 defeat by Grand Slam champions Ireland, which condemned England to their worst finish since 1987. Having clinched only their third men’s clean sweep in history, Ireland’s process – in which performance director David Nucifora acts as a middle-man between head coach Joe Schmidt and chief executive Philip Browne – has been lauded as a successful model that could be copied in order to bring the best out of Jones, but Brown dismissed this prospect.
“The first person that puts Eddie straight is Eddie,” Brown said. “Eddie is self-critical, challenges himself and that’s something I’ve seen in the seven months I’ve been his boss that is quite key. I am ultimately his boss, he reports to me.
“Eddie and I meet weekly and pretty much have daily dialogue so aware of pretty much everything that is going on in camp and actually quite a lot of the rugby detail too and that is quite good for me because I can check we’re on the right track, that we are giving the support that is needed and that I can call on the resources and expertise needed when it appropriate and Eddie is not shy in asking for either. He has a great network of people he talks to and is open-minded and learning constantly.”
That means that if England fail between now and the end of the Rugby World Cup, blame will have to fall on Brown’s shoulders just as much as Jones’ – although it’s worth pointing out that the Australian was the hire of Brown’s predecessor Ian Ritchie back in December 2015 – and it is not a responsibility that Brown will shirk.
He added: “I don’t have a problem with it, because at the end of the day the buck stops with me. I am the Chief Exec of the RFU, the buck stops with me. Ultimately I am responsible for the performances of all of the people in the RFU including Eddie and the England team.”
Asked whether a performance director or similar would remove that risk, Brown responded: “You say that but ultimately I’d still be responsible.”
While Ritchie may be responsible for Jones’ appointment, Brown would certainly be the man behind keeping Jones in the job even if things continue to unravel. After ending the Six Nations with three straight defeats, England head on a three-Test tour of South Africa that will be much harder than recent history suggests – especially if Jones rests a number of players as he hinted he would if he still has fitness concerns over his British and Irish Lions players.
The Wales head coach Warren Gatland warned that what was at the time a two-game losing run could easily spiral into six matches if England are whitewashed on the summer tour, and with Australia and New Zealand up first in the autumn internationals in November, the prospect of going 0-8 is not as farfetched as it seemed before the Six Nations began.
But after confirming that it will make something major to dismiss Jones, Brown confirmed that England are too far into the Rugby World Cup cycle to be thinking about dismissing him even if that dreadful run materialises.
“We have to [stick by Jones]” Brown said. “It has always been our plan. You wouldn’t want to think about that run of results but what I am confident about is that there is a position where we would recover at some point. Ultimately the goal is to have stability and consistency through to the World Cup. We are going to have to manage the results as we go but the plan is to get them back to where they were.”
The Six Nations also saw Jones involved in two ugly scenes, one in which he was the victim and one the culprit. Having been verbally and physically abused on two train journeys from Edinburgh to London via
Manchester by drunken Scotland fans, Jones has announced that he will no longer take public transport, with Brown adding that Jones always has the option to use RFU-provided transport.
But the second saw Jones engulfed in an embarrassing episode in which he called Ireland “scummy” and Wales a “little s*** country” during a private business function, which Brown reiterated both Jones and the RFU had apologised for and that he will still be allowed to do a set number of each year.
“We were highly apologetic as was Eddie and think they don’t represent any deep-rooted views he has, and certainly don’t represent ours as a union,” Brown explained. “I spoke to CEOs of Ireland and Wales. They were gracious in response and we have drawn a line under it and moved on. It was an unfortunate situation, not one we want to be in. But we have dealt with it.
“Eddie is allowed to make a limited number of speaking engagements in his contract and I have to authorise all of those. We keep a close eye on that.
“The arrangement is a fair one and appropriate for someone of his standing and if we stick to that, I don’t think there will be a problem [going forwards].”