>> Guscott: Now players must preserve Eddie’s job
GIVEN what Eddie Jones has done as England head coach over the last five and a half years it always seemed to me that he should remain in the job despite his team’s fifth-place finish in the last Six Nations campaign.
The RFU panel reviewing England’s performance has come to the same conclusion, even though we do not know the criteria on which Jones’ performance was measured. However, we know that normally the yardstick for a head coach is results – and that when you lose in the way that England have, then stay-or-go questions were going to be asked about Jones.
However, now the review is over, Jones will know that if there is no sign of improvement by the end of this year – in particular in the Autumn series games against South Africa and Australia in November – the questions will come thick and fast, and he will be at risk despite being contracted through to the 2023 World Cup in France.
The strangest aspect of the review was that it now seems that Jones and his England squad are going to be monitored regularly by a group of external rugby experts.
It all sounds a bit cloak-anddagger, and it raises questions about whether there is a new chain of command involving the England head coach. Previously, what we have been told is that Eddie Jones reports directly to RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney – but that will change if it appears that Sweeney has now decided he needs a panel of experts to help him in his appraisal of Jones.
There is no harm doing that, but if you keep on moving the goalposts in terms of who is responsible, it just gives more opportunity for wriggle room when it is clarity that is needed.
For instance, at Exeter Chiefs there is a chain of command that runs from chairman Tony Rowe, to director of rugby Rob Baxter, to head coach Ali Hepher – but ultimately, everyone knows that it is Baxter who is responsible for results.
I also suspect that Jones will feel pretty disappointed that the chain of command since he first took the England job, which was to report directly to Sweeney, has been changed. Now, with others involved, it might persuade him to consider his position.
The other side of the coin is that in some ways being under pressure can bring out the best in a coach, because it is a challenge to find out just how good you are. Jones is going to have to be very switched on to get England back to the top of their game, because that fifth-place finish was pretty diabolical.
If the England players do not respond over the summer and the Autumn, then it’s unlikely Jones will stay in the job. There is also no point in players who are being picked for England by Jones coming out and backing him in words, because they are not going to vote against the man who is voting for them. They have to back it up by performances.
win over France in the Six Nations saw many of the players do that, taking them briefly back to the level they were at during the 2019 World Cup. They have to use it as an inspirational platform, and at the same time England have to see some improvement from backs coach Simon Amor, forwards coach Matt Proudfoot and defence coach John Mitchell. Every single one of the squad also has to improve, otherwise they are all at risk.
There is always a high expectation on any England team, and the players in the squad have to thrive on that challenge and deal with it internally by showing us how good they are.
Whether what we are seeing in the Premiership will help them to do so is hard to predict, because, although teams are playing a lot in attack – because there is no fear of relegation – there is not much evidence of them in defence.
Another factor is that Jones may have more players available to him than usual this summer, with fewer English players likely to go on the
Lions tour than was predicted at the end of last season.
If the summer tour games against the USA and Canada come off, then it makes sense to integrate as many players who could be part of England’s 2023 World Cup plans into the squad as possible. You would expect the candidates to include the likes of fly-halves Joe Simmonds (Exeter) and Marcus Smith (Harlequins), scrum-half Alex Mitchell (Northampton), and No.8 Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins).
There was a lot of chat in the Six Nations about Jones having a group of ‘undroppables’ in his squad, and the next six months is the ideal time for him to freshen up the team and let young players prove they are up to it.
The difference between the club and international game is not as vast as some people make out. Every England player has come from club rugby, and has had to prove along the way that they are good enough to step up to the next level all the way through their careers, whether it is Tom Curry, Maro Itoje, or relaEngland’s tive newcomers like Ollie Lawrence and Max Malins. What makes the transition from club to international level much more effective is that if an international team is going well, it is much easier to bring in as many as three new players with very little difference. However, bringing in that same number of players when you are losing is much more challenging.
International rugby selection has always been about getting the right mix of experienced hands with new players.
So far, Eddie Jones has stuck with his tried-and-tested, and so when results do not go his way that’s on him. He believed the Saracens players would find their feet in the Six Nations, and that was an error of judgement. However, I don’t think there are too many international coaches who would have dropped those Saracens players in the same circumstances, because most tend to stick with proven players.
The difference between Jones and Clive Woodward is there was a lot more talent around in 2000 to 2003 than there is now. Although there was always competition for places within the squad, from 2000 until they won the World Cup, the team was pretty set – and for good reason. When did Jonny Wilkinson, Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Phil Vickery, Jason Robinson, Richard Hill, Neil Back, Mike Tindall or Ben Cohen ever have a bad game?
It happened so rarely because everyone had someone breathing down their neck. Ever since then England teams have been measured by that yardstick, and this current team need to live with that comparison – and thrive on it.
Wilkinson was undroppable because his last performance was nearly always great – but how many of Jones’ line-up now can say that? They have to embrace the challenge. Even Woodward’s side was questioned in at least one game every season. If they fell, which they did, they responded massively the next game.
I don’t buy into the idea that coaches run out of spark and drive after five or six years, especially not when they have got to a World Cup final. Somewhere, somehow, Jones has got to freshen something up, because if it remains the same it will become stale.
Look at the talent France have right now. Look at them and you think – by 2023 look out! But England beat them in the Six Nations – so grab hold of that, and build from there.
“If the England players do not respond it’s unlikely Jones will stay in the job”