England offer Jones contract until next World Cup in 2023
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, has opened negotiations with Eddie Jones for the Australian to stay as head coach of England up to the 2023 World Cup.
Jones has a contract for the next two years to 2021, and even though his side were outclassed by South Africa in Saturday’s World Cup final in Japan, Sweeney said in Tokyo yesterday: “I think he [Jones] has done a fantastic job with this squad. He’s unearthed some fantastic players now that have huge careers going ahead with England. He gets on well with that squad, he’s committed to England Rugby, so I think he’s got an awful lot more to offer yet.”
Sweeney wants to recruit English coaches into the RFU “pipeline”, and Jones has presented his boss with his preferred names to replace forwards coach Steve Borthwick, rumoured to be going to Leicester, and Bath-bound scrum coach Neal Hatley. The future of England’s Australian backs coach Scott Wisemantel is unclear, while Kiwi defence assistant John Mitchell is also contracted to 2021.
Jones himself was in confrontational mood with the media after Saturday’s final as he confirmed he would be “back to work” today, certainly seeing out his existing contract with the rest up to the RFU.
Sweeney’s words may give Jones significant leverage to improve his current £750,000 salary, with Australia possibly keen to bring him home to work with the Wallabies, but Sweeney said: “It makes sense… if you’re going to go through to France 2023 it’s nice to have that unbroken stretch – but both parties have got to be completely happy with it.
“We just need to sit down when we get back, have a couple bottles of red wine and chat about where it goes.
“He’s probably going to look to get a pool together of 50 to 55 players who can go the entire distance so he will be looking long-term, I don’t think he’ll just phase himself out purely on the two-year basis.”
Sweeney added: “Eddie’s one of the world’s best coaches – if not the best – despite the result against South Africa. He is committed to his contract through to the end of August 2021 and he is fulfilling that.
“There are a lot of emotions flying around after a game so let the dust settle a little bit andthenseewherehishead’s at, see how he feels about it. But the first step is to honour that contract through to 2021 and then we’ll discuss what goes on beyond that.”
On speculation linking Jones with other jobs, Sweeney said: “When you’re in Eddie’s position, you’re going to have people sniffing around. We can only control our relationship with him.”
England’s entire World Cup campaign will be reviewed by an independentlychaired rugby panel over two days in mid-november, including face-to-face meetings with players.
“I’ve been very close to this particular campaign so I’m not expecting anything in there that is going to shock us,” said Sweeney, who has promised to maintain the current level of funding for the England team.
“But it would be remiss of us if we didn’t look at everything that has happened and see what we can learn from it and how it can take us forward into 2023.”