Eddie Jones believes the Rugby Football Union should not replace Steve Borthwick as England head coach before the World Cup in Australia next year. England went into the Six Nations on a run of 11 wins and extended that to 12 in the opening game against Wales.
They then lost four matches – the first time England had been beaten in four games in a Six Nations campaign – including a first defeat by Italy in any competition, to finish fifth in the table.
Jones took charge as England head coach after their first-round exit on home soil at the 2015 World Cup and he was sacked at the end of 2022. For successive championships England won two of five games and a 27-13 defeat by South Africa proved to be the Australian’s last match in charge.
Borthwick, a former England captain and an assistant coach under Jones with Japan and England, replaced him nine months out from the 2023 World Cup and led them to third place in France.
“Steve’s done a good job with England, they’ve just come off a string of 12 wins,” Jones said on his Rugby Unity podcast.
The 66-year-old, now in his second stint as coach of Japan, said: “There’s no doubt they had a bad tournament, so he’ll need to show to the RFU he knows why he’s had a bad tournament, he knows how he’s going to turn it around and I’m sure he can do that.”
Jones, coach of his native Australia when they were beaten by England in the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney, said any RFU review of the Six Nations had to be conducted by someone who had seen Borthwick at work and understood the selection and personnel problems. “The last one I did, I knew it was a waste of time,” he said. “I was gone. I was ‘brown bread’ [dead].”
With England ending the Six Nations by scoring seven tries in a thrilling 48-46 defeat in Paris against the eventual champions France last weekend, Jones said: “I’ll say it again – I think [Borthwick is] the right man to coach England and they should support him through this.
“Maybe he’s got a few things wrong and they’ll need to help him rectify those errors, but they’d be foolhardy to change.”
