Given the weight of advice offered from home and abroad, English ears will have been burning at their headquarters in Surrey this week when their most significant critic for a decade and more conceded that Stuart Lancaster’s side should make it to the World Cup final.
As that judgment – “the semi-finals at least” – came from Eddie Jones, there were bound to be caveats. However, coming from the mouth that baited England all the way to their 2003 title, it came close to glowing testament.
After all, the pre-match and post‑match spats between Jones and Clive Woodward in the runup to that extra-time, wrong-footed drop goal in Sydney and the celebratory parades through London that followed were almost as brutal and cruel as the games themselves. Or so we thought.
Earlier this week, during a break from coaching his current side, Japan, before their campaign, Jones admitted he had more than a grudging regard for Woodward and that while their words made headlines, he and the England coach always had time to catch up later. He had even come close to joining England when, post 2007, Twickenham was trying to get English rugby on track by appointing a director of rugby.
Woodward himself was interested, as was Rob Andrew. However, it now seems that Jones, fresh from being a technical adviser to the South Africa team that had beaten England to the 2007 World Cup, was given sufficient encouragement to do a little research into the chances of working at Twickenham only to get word from a friend sufficiently close to the RFU decision-makers that “they want an Englishman”.
So England got Andrew – a far less abrasive option than either of the former national coaches – and Jones moved on, first of all back to Saracens, then on to Japan, for three years coaching the club side Suntory Sungoliath and since 2012 the national side, with whom he is currently based in Bristol preparing for their opening pool game, against South Africa in Brighton.
After the World Cup Jones is on the move again, probably to the Stormers in Cape Town and the prospect of another spell in Super Rugby, although he insists “nothing is signed as yet”.
He also insists that he is not walking out on Japan in their hour of need, as some suggest. The vultures have been gathering, sensing Japan might not be able to stage the 2019 World Cup it has been awarded – alarm bells went off when the government cancelled a new national stadium – and doubts are being raised about the practicability of a Super Rugby franchise desperately needed by a country which tends to tempt overseas players to play possibly only 15 games a season for financial rewards rather than the rigour of competition.
“I always thought I could do four years here. Give it a good four years,” says Jones. “I’m 55 now, I’ve may be got 10 years left and I want to do different things. Would have been easy for me to stay, but I want a new challenge, want to move on.”
You sense frustration at changing the culture of a game that not so long ago would have seemed perfect for England in the 1930s; a game played by “gentlemen” and still governed by the top universities or, as Jones puts it, “the Oxfords and Cambridges – they control everything.
“Japanese rugby is a bit like their society was; closed off from the rest of the world. Over the last three or four years we’ve shaken it up, got more international fixtures, taken the players on a lot more tours and because of that we’ve had reasonable results. But its very domestically based and the structure of the top league is 16 teams, so the competition is quite diluted. In reality our guys are only playing three or four top-level games a year. It’s not enough.”
And what of this World Cup? Jones has tried to change the culture of importing any talent that is going. “We still use foreign players but we try to keep Japanese players in the key positions, 2, 8, 9, 10, 15, so the team is run by Japanese players and those who qualify by residency bring power to the game. You need power.”
Japan have won only once in seven World Cups so would a victory against USA in their final game be a decent send‑off? “Possibly one more,” says Jones, before turning to England’s chances in the next two months, 2003 and those spats with Woodward. “It was fun and it was good for the sport … but we’d always catch up afterwards and have a beer or a cup of tea.
“Nobody has been able to do what Woodward did with that team. Lancaster has rebuilt the culture of the team, now its whether he can rebuild the rugby of the team. Selection has been a bit all over the shop and at the World Cup that will be tested – whether he gets his selection right and whether they can play a game which suits the English instincts but can put enough points on the board.”
And to sum up? “I think they will definitely make the quarter finals, and I will be surprised if they don’t make the semis – at least the semis,” says Jones before quickly adding: “But I don’t think they are good enough to win”.
... And what of England’s Pool A rivals?
Jones on Australia Michael Cheika’s got a good group of players with genuine talent, but the thing I worry about with Austria is the 9-10. Four years ago (Will) Genia was the best half back in the world and if he can find his mojo he will make a hell of a difference, but at the moment he’s off the pace. Bernard Foley to me is not a Test five eight. He’s a very handy Super rugby player. Personally I’d play Matt Giteau, he reads the game, he’s played a lot of high quality rugby , played a lot of European rugby.
Jones on Wales Leigh Halfpenny’s been been worth 12 points a game and gave them a bit of an X factor. (Warren) Gatland has done a fantastic job, but they are a bit of a robotic team, very gain line orientated and, if they want to move that on, they’ll miss (Rhys) Webb as well.
