Eddie Jones has “reconfirmed” his commitment to England and is already planning his coaching team for after this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.
That is according to RFU CEO Bill Sweeney, who revealed on Thursday that defence coach John Mitchell has penned new terms until June 2021.
The move to tie down Mitchell is an indication of Jones’ long-term planning, with the head coach directly involved in discussions about the New Zealander’s new deal.
Jones himself signed a new contract with England in January 2018, which runs until the summer of 2021.
Within that deal there is understood to be a break clause that is dependent on how the Red Rose perform at this year’s World Cup.
But Sweeney, who was appointed as the RFU’s new CEO in February, has revealed Jones is already planning for life after Japan.
“We have extended John’s contract through to be consistent with Eddie’s, so it goes through to June of 2021,” said Sweeney.
“That was in full consultation with Eddie. He and I spoke about it about five, six weeks ago maybe. It is part of Eddie’s long-term coaching structure plans.
“The focus now is really on the World Cup and then making sure we get our plans in place post World Cup. Eddie has reconfirmed his commitment through to 2021.
“We have lots of conversations on that and he has said he wants to stay through to the end of that contracted period.
“So from that prospective we’ve already started conversations around what will the structure and look of that coaching team be coming back from Japan.
“He has got a number of names in the frame. We haven’t approached them yet, at least I don’t think so.
“We wouldn’t contract anyone pre World Cup. But he has got in mind how he would like to structure that as soon as we get back.”
Sweeney joined the RFU from the British Olympic Association (BOA), where he had been CEO since 2013.
By stepping into his new role he has come into a governing body who in November of last year announced an operating loss of £30.9million for 2017-18.
However, Sweeney said on Thursday: “It's definitely not a crisis, there's no financial crisis here.
“The business model at the RFU is inherently very healthy, we generate a lot of cash, a lot of revenue and if you keep your costs in control there's no reason why that should be a fragile business plan.
“The team here has done a really good job over the last 18 months already, taking quite a bit of cost out of the operation.
“We will make a profit this financial year. We'll hit the target for the budget this year which is great, it's good for the morale of the staff, for them to be able to do that this year.”
