The RFU this morning confirmed that Australian Eddie Jones would become the first foreign coach to take the top job in English rugby, as he was handed a four year contract to see him through until after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Jones will start in September and take charge of England’s first RBS 6 Nations match, against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 6th.
Jones’s stock rose to perhaps its highest during the recent Rugby World Cup, when he lead minnows Japan to the biggest shock in the sport’s history, a 34-32 win over South Africa on the opening weekend. They went on to beat Samoa and USA to become the first team to win three games but not qualify from their group.
His first major piece of silverware came in 2001 after leading the ACT Brumbies to their first Super 12 title and in doing so becoming the first side other than a New Zealand team to win the tournament.
He took charge of the Wallabies between 2001 and 2005 and delivered Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup success. The national side reached the 2003 Rugby World Cup final on home soil, losing narrowly to England.
After spells with the Queensland Reds and Saracens, the 55 year old took up a technical advisor role with the Springboks in 2007 helping the South Africans win their second World Cup having beaten England twice, once in the pool stages and then again in the final. He later became Director of Rugby at Saracens until 2009 and then coached the Japanese club side Suntory Sungoliath.
Eddie Jones said: “Firstly my thanks must go to Rob Wagner and everyone at Western Province Rugby for understanding my decision and allowing me to return to the international stage so quickly. The opportunity to take the reins in possibly the world’s most high profile international rugby job doesn’t come along every day however, and I feel fortunate to be given the opportunity.
“I’m now looking forward to working with the RFU and the players to move beyond the disappointment England suffered at the World Cup and hope to build a new team that will reflect the level of talent that exists within the English game. I believe the future is bright for England.”
RFU Chief Executive Ian Ritchie said: “We promised to recruit a coach with proven international experience and we have done that. Eddie is a world-class coach, with extensive experience at the highest level with Australia, South Africa and Japan. We believe that the appointment, which was unanimously approved by the RFU Board, is the right one to bring England success in the short, medium and long term.
“We are confident Eddie can build on the strong foundations already laid, with this talented group of players largely remaining together through to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and beyond. We are grateful to the Stormers for their co-operation in releasing Eddie early from his contract.”
Speculation will now be rife as to who will join his coaching team, with Jones thought to have a clean slate over who he brings in. His assistant with Japan, Steve Borthwick – who recently signed a coaching contract at Bristol – is strongly tipped to be amongst the frontrunners.
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Perhaps he will retain Farrell senior.Any thoughts please?
Arrrrrgh!
Seriously though, he should remove the whole coaching team which is contaminated with failure.
They backed the discredited Lancaster in his breakdown moments, e.g., playing Burgess in the WC & dropping his established 1st choice fly1/2 Ford (even though somewhat overrated) for the moribund Farrell… for the ‘biggest game in their history’!
Clean slate required.
Wow it didn’t take the troll’s long, lol.
A serious point to get the ball rolling!
In short then, no.
Like the idea of an English coach under him, maybe looking to take over after RWC 2019, and who knows the players and system. Dean Ryan, or maybe Baxter, would be my choice.
Think likely Gustard and Borthwick will come aboard. That team will have all won a significant amount as players and coaches, and provide a clean break.
Baxter and Gustard have already been involved in the English coaching set up in Argentina 2013.
Wonder who will be captain – an experienced head like Hartley, Youngs or do you go for a Warburton esque new choice such as Launchbury or Itoje??
Like the idea of Itoje. He will definately (should) be captain at some stage so why not set the foundation early? He has form, U20 RWC winning captain, Saracens A captain.
The very best appointment they could have made and congrats to Ritchie after weeks of dithering.The contrast with Stu could’nt be greater and I feel sure the players will react positively to him instead of the stifling culture of Lancaster
Good appointment but I do hope he has an assistant that is English with the view of him taking over 4 years down the line.
Personally I’d like to see:
Assistant Coach: Rob Baxter
Forwards Coach: Steve Borthwick
Defense Coach: Paul Gustard
That being said I don’t think Baxter will end up involved; as I can’t see him leaving Exeter. Borthwick may end up as assistant coach as opposed to a forwards role too.
Plus 1 to that team.
Any views on which players will now head to the wilderness? This,thankfully,is no longer a ‘credit in the bank’ situation and I don’t doubt that EJ already has his ideas regarding some players.
Robshaw, Haskell, Barritt, Easter and Burgess…… Oh wait………
I personally don’t think there was much wrong with the England sides that were picked, as I have said before it was the lack of something different or any game changers on the bench and Lancasters lack of ability to back a player who had onwe bad game, Luther Burrell anyone?
For me Cipriani needs to be around the squad, Itoje, Wade, Elliott Daly, Henry Slade, Waldrom (From the bench in lieu of Vunipola and Morgan), Steffon Armitage or if the RFU are willing to not bend about the foreign player rule a number 7 who can do his job.
Well if he starts in September as stated above we will have to wait a while!! I’m assuming that’s a typo!?!?
Anyway I think the key words that come out of his statement are “hope to build a new team that will reflect the level of talent that exists within the English game.” To me this reads like there will be significant changes to the squad, with a lot of the older players being replaced with younger models. It will be interesting to see who the coaches will be. Suspect Borthwick will be making a return the these shores!! And I’m very interested to see who he selects as Captain of his “new” team!
I will take a punt on Maro Itoje.Seriously.
Borthwick is already on these shores, I bet Bristol are checking his contract details right now.
Good appointment by England, which isn’t the easiest thing for me to say. Finally Eng put a real coach in charge, it was fun while it lasted. At least maybe I get to enjoy the all out war with the Prem sides :-)
Best appointment we could hope for IMO. I hope we finally have a coach that selects on talent and what players CAN do rather than what they can’t. Hope Barritt never plays again for England.
But my word, can you imagine the pre match verbals between Jones and Gatland? It might be more entertaining than the match itself!
Having rightly fingered the 6n for being too defence orientated I really hope he sticks to his principles and develops an attacking game for England.
Given how much he has name checked the U20s winning squads, you can bet that Henry Slade, Jack Clifford, Maro Itoje, Nathan Earle, Nick Tompkins, Paul Hill, Jack Nowell, Ollie Devoto, Sam Hill, Anthony Watson, Luke C-D, Alec Hepburn etc are all on the mind.
Hello Eddie and welcome to English rugby. I really,really hope this appointment works out because he is definitely the best of the available candidates from an international point of view.
My big fear is that his tenure becomes nothing more than a series of acrimonious battles with the clubs and the RFU. As we all know he’s not one to shy away from an argument and is very much his own man.
If an amnesty can be established then I can see him quickly re-establishing England as a force to be reckoned with,particularly with the right coaching staff and the wealth of talented young players available.
Those who should fear the reaper: the three stooges left over from the previous coaching group, Haskell, Parling,T Youngs,Robshaw,Barritt,Tuilagi (until he develops a greater appreciation of team play),Cole.
Those with a chance to impress: Itoje,Ewers,Mullan,Sinckler,Daly,Hill,Kvesic,Fraser,Cooper-Woolley, Slade,Burrell.
New captain: Pass.
Roll on the 6N!
Am I allowed to be quietly optimistic? Think he was the best head coach available. Let’s hope he puts together a quality team – coaching and playing.
Really hope he means it about developing the English coaches, this appointment would be money well spent if he can impart some real coaching nous into the next generation.
Exciting times for English rugby I hope, interesting to see if this performance director role comes about as well. Hope he moves fast with selecting a coaching team to give themselves time to establish a clear gameplan they want to go forward with, something sorely lacking before. As said above if he does fancy some of the U20 guys there is some real talent available depending on how he wants to play.
About time! A decent coach without a name like “Bomber”.
He will do the job but agree he should have an English number two. Wales has Howley and even Jenkins as water carrier!
The more he takes on the RFU and challenges cosy pre-conceived ideas the better! Someone who can cut through all the English/RFU bullshit that has been allowed to develop since Woodward’s departure like a malignant cancer!
Jones has had his successes. He’s also had his failures, such as blowing out @ the Reds & leaving Sarries under a cloud. His ups have already been mentioned above @ S15 etc.
Michael Lyangh opined that Ritchie acted with undue haste when got the ‘last man standing’. He also excluded a wider selection by veering from 1 extreme in Lancaster (no In’al exp) to the other with Jones.
He might, for instance, have considered the likes of S15’s Jamie Joseph or Dave Rennie. Hungry coaches on the up with S15 success & from within a NZ coaching system which has cohesion, unity, innovation & supplied 7 WC coaches.
ML also reckoned that Ritchie seems to have based his pick of Jones on THAT win v Japan in the WC… like a few others?
Well, it was 1 off game… & Japan didn’t get out of the group! So, some food for thought @ least.
Campese likened Jones to Lancaster in that they were both school teachers & that the latter (& former?) was robotic in his style of play. Although Japan didn’t look too robotic to me in their win v SA.
Anyway, Jones has it all to do & another Jones, the ‘Welsh’ variety from the (you’ve guessed it) S Times expressed the view that Eddie talked a good game (ironic or what?) & that the wiley, experienced 1 had it all to do.
Well, again, he has ‘has it all to do’. For me Eddie has no room for failure & he’s right to look no further than Scotland nxt up & whom, I expect, won’t be easy beats.
Jones does express views like a chameleon & a politician & comes across as somewhat smug to me. All that doesn’t matter… if he wins. To do that he’s need more than playing to ‘England’s traditional strengths. He must surely expand the forwards’ skill base & get the back line straightening their attack (are you reading this Jack Knowle?) & have more ‘moves’ in their bag of tricks. Basic accuracy & option tacking might be a good start too.
Then he can pick a team to play a better, rounded game… & by all accounts, sweat them like piglets in practise.
Unless he dose so… yikes! Esp as he’s capitulated to the ‘no off shore’ stance!