After repeated second-place finishes in the Six Nations Championship, England exploded out of the blocks in Eddie Jones’ first campaign. An impact that Rugby Australia were surely hoping he could replicate with the Wallabies.
Similar to Joe Schmidt’s ascension to the top job in Ireland, Jones inherited a terrific England squad who were capable of greater honours but just kept coming up short. Jones re-installed a level of aggression that the previous head coach Stuart Lancaster no longer wanted to solely rely on. Marrying that aggression with the level of accuracy and experienced players Lancaster developed and England were ready to re-establish themselves.
A Grand Slam in his first year back in 2016 was followed by a Championship in 2017. England were rocking. Their coaching ticket under Jones was top class, with the likes of Steve Borthwick running the forwards and Paul Gustard taking charge of the defence. Alex Mitchell was hired in 2018 and combined well with new attack coach Scott Wisemantel. The staff seemed to gel together and functioned as a unit.
From there on, over the next four or five years, the coaching group just got worse and worse after several dismissals and resignations. By the time Eddie Jones was fired by the RFU, he was relying on the likes of Richard Cockerill and Brett Hodgson to make an impact on the international stage. Cockerill is an old-school coach, all bark and no substance. His immediate impact at middling clubs that have scope for improvement quickly wears off and his record since leaving the England team shows he was out of his depth.
Australian fans don’t need any history on Brett Hodgson, who eventually followed Jones from England to the Wallabies ticket after months in which Jones couldn’t fill the role.
Eddie Jones. (Photo by Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)
Why am I bringing up Eddie Jones again? We just want to forget!
I hear you Wallabies fans, I do. I bring up this cycle as history has a way of repeating itself.
Steve Borthwick was chosen by the RFU as the man to pick up the pieces with the World Cup just around the corner. England initially stuttered under Borthwick, Nick Evans’ promotion to attack coach from club side Harlequins was a great signing but Borthwick failed to fully embrace his swashbuckling style of play. Marcus Smith was given first crack at the job, indicating England were ready to lean into attacking rugby, but with such a short lead time into France 2023, Borthwick reverted to percentage rugby.
Evans’ ability to implement his style was hampered and he returned to Harlequins. A third place finish at the tournament, losing out to eventual champions South Africa, closed the conversation around Borthwick’s appointment in the English press. When Borthwick was able to entice the lauded Felix Jones from South Africa, the conversation reopened, this time praising Borthwick instead of questioning him. Felix Jones was tasked with installing a rush defence that South Africa utilised to lift back-to-back Web Ellis Cups. England’s aggressive identity married with their calibre of athletes indicated strong odds they could deliver on a high-risk, high-reward defensive plan.
In Felix Jones’ first game pulling the strings, they conceded 24 points to Italy including three tries and just about secured the win in Rome by three points. A low scoring game to forget versus Wales followed with England coming out ahead 16-14, although they didn’t concede any points in the second half. Unfortunately for Jones’ defence, he then came up against Scotland at home in Murrayfield, the one fixture that rouses the Scots like no other. Duhan van der Merwe went on to score a blistering hat-trick that had fans out of their seats. Finn Russell slotted his conversions and nailed his penalties. If Scotland played like that consistently, most teams would struggle. Unfortunately, Scotland are hopelessly inconsistent and seemed to save their one worldly performance for Felix Jones and his new defensive disciples.
Steve Borthwick and Jamie George. (Photo by David Ramos – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images )
Suddenly it clicked. England welcomed Ireland to Twickenham and shut down the most electrifying team in the tournament, marrying their defensive pressure with an accurate and opportunistic attack. They lost narrowly to France the following week, in Paris, but it didn’t matter. Jones’ philosophy had been realised and England were set to accelerate forward. England would have been aiming towards a win in New Zealand over the summer but despite suffering two defeats, they had some key takeaways with an evolving team after a long domestic season, that truthfully began even earlier with the World Cup.
Jump to August and England’s most prized asset Felix Jones resigned from his position with England citing a toxic working environment. It’s rumoured the departure of strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters to the Irish setup may have influenced Jones’ decision – the two are reportedly close due to their time together with Munster and South Africa. Aled Walters is a world-class operator and his national strength and conditioning plan would have been instrumental to the players’ ability to deliver on Jones’ defensive plan.
Felix Jones’ departure was a total shock to the international playing group akin to bereavement. The leader they looked to to help them evolve was leaving the building. This brings us right back to Eddie Jones and his leaky coaching box.
Felix’s departure from the coaching ticket is a major blow. He was the golden ticket in the coaching room and his replacement Joe El-Abd, who is double jobbing with Oyonnax until the conclusion of their Pro D2 campaign, has a lot to live up to. El-Abd has cited his 26-year friendship with Borthwick as a reason for optimism, saying their knowledge of one another personally and professionally can provide the team with stability.
It’s a big ask for a coach from the Pro D2 to follow in Jones’ footsteps. England are also committed to continuing the use of a blitz defence, even though the brains behind it has left. This is what worries me. If El-Abd has been tasked with delivering another coach’s game plan, ultimately it’s just an impression of what’s gone before. Yes, he may understand the “what”, but he doesn’t know the “why” and that is key when teaching or coaching world-class players.
Richard Wigglesworth and Kevin Sinfield also bring parity to the coaching ticket and I do think there will be enough residual understanding of Jones’ defence left in the players for this series of games, which means England will be capable of competing.
But, ultimately, as the picture changes and evolves, different players come and go from camp, the understanding of the system will weaken. Unfortunately for the Wallabies, Felix Jones’ resignation is still fresh and his voice may still linger in players’ minds for their upcoming match-up.
