‘He is just not interested in talking to the RFU blazers’
tolerates it and is not afraid to point it out if they ask a stupid question,” an RFU council source said. “I don’t think he has much time for ‘the blazers’.”
Jones did buy into the RFU’S community work – “when he opens a clubhouse or does some kids coaching, he always does it with a smile on his face,” observed one source – and his work ethic is, as one observer puts it, “incredibly inspiring. He never lets up”.
But politics? Not for Jones. “He also doesn’t mix with the great and the good after matches at Twickenham,” another insider said. “He sits at one end of the room and talks with Neil Craig, his right-hand man. I actually admire him for it. He is just not interested in climbing greasy poles.”
The departure of Gustard, who had the highest profile of his coaching team, to become director of rugby at Harlequins after the South Africa tour raised further questions about Jones’s tenure. Jones acted as if it had no impact at all but behind the scenes there was trouble hiring a replacement.
Farrell, who had been let go after the World Cup, was his first choice but as he had been lined up as the successor to Joe Schmidt as Ireland head coach, he said no. “There is a problem when a union pays someone off and two years later talks about buying them out of their contract,” one source said, wryly.
Critically, however, Jones – who had predicted a drop off in his side’s performance in the third year – did not lose the faith of his players. “Teams probably worked us out a little bit and we didn’t carry on evolving because when you are winning, you just stick to what you know,” Youngs recalled. “I remember Eddie saying, ‘Boys, don’t panic, this happens as part of our evolution as a side. Just keep going, we will work our way through this,’ and I suppose that is what happened.
“Look at the Johannesburg game [in 2018, when England lost 42-39 after blowing a 21-point lead]. We were so in control and to lose it was a huge lesson. I am almost grateful for that now.”
If the Cape Town win helped ease the pressure on Jones, he was also aided by the internecine fighting that broke out within the RFU as the governing body was forced to engage in a redundancy programme that led to 54 job losses.
Council sources long believed that Jones had spent whatever he wanted and there was anger about reports of an overspend close to £900,000 last year. “There has always been the feeling that the RFU was never quite across all of Eddie’s commercial deals,” another Twickenham insider said.
Jones was told to apologise for his Bruce Craig comments but any sense that the RFU was standing up to him evaporated in a summer of bloodletting which culminated in a public war of words between the governing body and former chief executive Francis Baron over the financial management of the union and the departure of Brown as chief executive that November.
Bill Sweeney, Brown’s successor, would not take up office until June, by which stage Jones was already in the most advanced stages of planning for the World Cup. John
‘At half-time or at the end of the game in summary, he can instantly work out what we need to do’
Mitchell was hired to replace Gustard, with the RFU forced to buy out his contract at the Sharks in South Africa for £250,000 – further adding to the tension about spending cuts – while Scott Wisemantel, who had been brought in on a consultancy basis as an attack coach for the South Africa tour, also agreed to stay to the World Cup.
Whether by chance or not, Jones had assembled a coaching team of experience and innovation and in the autumn of 2018, the revival was under way with encouraging wins over South Africa and Australia, and a narrow defeat by New Zealand.
Jones has always backed himself as a selector and the final piece of the jigsaw of his journey to the World Cup was a shift in his selection.
Injuries to senior figures such as Hartley and Robshaw would allow him to freshen up his squad going into the Six Nations, which opened in spectacular fashion, with a victory over Ireland in Dublin. There were still setbacks – including a defeat in Cardiff and a shocking defensive display in the second half against Scotland – but the three-month pre-world Cup camp allowed him to work specifically on conditioning for an Today 5.45am: Australia v Fiji 8.15: France v Argentina 10.45: New Zealand v South Africa
Tomorrow 6.15: Italy v Namibia 8.45: Ireland v Scotland 11.15: England v Tonga Monday 11.15: Wales v Georgia
Tuesday 11.15: Russia v Samoa
Wednesday 6.15: Fiji v Uruguay
Thursday 8.45: Italy v Canada 11.45: England v United States
extended period of time for the first time.
He felt sufficiently emboldened to pick X-factor rookies such as Cokanasiga and Ruaridh Mcconnochie, and with the likes of Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph fit again to add pace and power to his attacking options, England have arrived in Japan with great expectations.
The players also say that Jones’s approach had evolved, with more power given to the senior group led by Owen Farrell, his new captain. “I hadn’t been involved for about a year and I came back into camp with the expectation of what it might have been like before and it was just completely different,” Joseph said.
Tuilagi, who played in both the 2011 and 2015 tournaments, also relished the simplicity of Jones’s approach. “Eddie is very straightforward,” he said. “I know exactly what he wants from me and it makes your job a lot easier. He doesn’t make you think too much, he wants you to play to your strength and just play rugby and enjoy it.”
For Youngs, one of the key changes has been Jones’s insistence that the group is now more player-led. “That is what he always wanted,” Youngs said. “Boys drive their own thing and it is done differently. We are given the game plan, we discuss the game plan and then it is player-led. If we need to change things, we tinker. That is the biggest change within that coach/player relationship.
“Eddie will address the team before we leave the hotel and make sure that when we arrive it is very much left to the team. He will pick up small conversations with the guys and might give you a couple of things to go after in the game. At that point he is just pumping up the tyres of the lads and making them feel good.
“At half-time he says what is needed. I have never come across another coach who always hits the nail on the head, whatever is happening in the game, whether it is half-time or at the end of the game in a summary. He can instantly work out what is going on and what we need to do.”
And, so, to Japan. Many say England look as if they have their best chance of winning the World Cup since 2003 – and yet, deliciously, so many unknowns remain.
“No one really knows what to expect,” one insider said. “If he is, at times, inconsistent, it is not because of self-doubt. He is inconsistent because he changes his mind and they are two very different things. He is absolutely clear that this team can win the World Cup.”
A nation holds its breath, awaiting the next act of the Eddie Show.