The head coach may crave revolution before the 2023 World Cup but as it stands he is in a strange halfway houseIt is unclear whether Eddie Jones wants to change the world but he is looking for a new England. He has given his squad that label this summer, repeatedly urging those for whom the international stage is new to seize their opportunity, to make the jersey their own, to ensure the senior players away with the British & Irish Lions, or given a few extra weeks off, have a fight on their hands next season.Sixteen new caps and a new-look, albeit temporary, coaching staff certainly suggest change is in the air but it has been instructive to hear Jones...
Governing body has backed England coach despite poor Six Nations but its support appears to come with hidden caveatsSo Eddie Jones is still the right man to steer England forward. Or is he? The further down the carefully constructed tower of corporate Jenga-speak you descend, the less fulsome the Rugby Football Union’s vote of confidence starts to look. Where, for example, is the definitive line saying: “We’re sticking with Eddie until 2023 regardless”? Let alone any gung-ho predictions about imminent World Cup glory. Related: Eddie Jones retains ‘full support’ of RFU after review of England coach Putting a block on relegation from the Gallagher Premiership risks “devaluing” the league and undermining its long-term appeal, according to Pat Lam, Bristol’s director...
For his final Observer report, our stalwart writer offers his reflections on decades covering a sport rich in drama and spectacle but that now stands at a crossroadsThe car was a cross between a Lada and a Trabant, a cut-and-shut probably. It was parked in a taxi rank outside the one hotel in Bucharest that had any swank or alcohol. It was 1994 and the following day Wales were playing Romania as punishment for making an early exit from the World Cup three years before. The International Rugby Board had held a media conference about nothing very much and it was time to retire to a modest establishment on the outskirts of the city to serve up the match preview.Behind...
Head coach’s future is under discussion after a poor Six Nations but the desire clearly remains in the combative AustralianAmbrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary defined opportunity as a favourable time for grasping disappointment. When the panel convened by Twickenham to conduct a postmortem on England’s Six Nations campaign meets this month, there will be only one outcome if its mood is shaped by where England finished and the side’s overall level of performance: sayonara, Eddie Jones.Reacting in kneejerk fashion rarely yields anything more fruitful than a short-lived bounce, and not always then as Wales found out in the 1980s and 1990s. Listening to the Rugby Football Union’s Bill Sweeney and Conor O’Shea last week suggested there would be a...
This manic and beguiling tournament gave little clue about what will happen next, least of all about Eddie Jones’ futureAutumn austerity turned into a spring splurge. It was as if players felt liberated outside their Covid bubble, prisoners of the pandemic running free. The disappointment was that there were no spectators to witness a Six Nations tournament where every team except Italy had its day and, for once, defences did not dominate.Wales went from fifth to first, confirmed as champions after France failed to beat Scotland on Friday night, swapping places with England who just 17 months ago looked rugby’s coming force. Now a panel is being convened by Twickenham to sift through the flotsam of a campaign which started...