Eddie Jones: Rassie Erasmus backs rival coach and England for Rugby World Cup success

South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has voiced his support for Eddie Jones following another disappointing Six Nations in charge of England.

This backing comes in response after, for the second year running, England won just two of their five fixtures in the prestigious championship.

Jones‘ critics have since questioned whether he is still the right man to steer the side forward as the Rugby World Cup is approaching in 18 months so England need to get their act together quickly.

Contrary to the widespread unhappiness with Jones’ recent performance, the RFU have stated that they are happy with the progress the team have made and offered the head coach their full support.

Joining the RFU in Jones’ dwindling fan club is rival director of rugby Erasmus, who backed England to impress next year in France under the guidance of Jones in his column for the Daily Mail.

Ignore the critics

“England are getting a lot of criticism but they will be strong at the World Cup. Don’t tell me Eddie has suddenly become a bad coach. He is a good rugby man who texted me when I was in trouble with World Rugby,” Erasmus wrote.

“I admire him in a weird kind of way. I don’t agree with all of his strategies in the media but that’s not to say I’m right and he’s wrong. He made a lot of changes to his team recently but I’m sure he has a plan for the World Cup.

“Clive [Woodward] says Eddie should have a rugby expert to report to? Clive knows English rugby better than me. Maybe a buffer between Eddie and the board and the fans could be a good thing that would allow him to focus on the coaching. Or maybe he enjoys that stuff.

“If you can deal with the board, the crowd, Clive Woodward, the media, then that’s 60 per cent of the work done. When I was coach, I didn’t want to speak to the CEO and board members. I wanted to speak to a rugby person.”

Regarding the changes Erasmus mentioned, it is clear that the Six Nations signalled a changing of the guard for England with a much-needed infusion of youth arriving into the squad.

Players like Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt, Joe Marchant, Freddie Steward and Harry Randall all became regular fixtures in the team over the course of the tournament and played well throughout.

With inexperienced players like those mentioned stepping up and a plethora of injured players missing, perhaps Erasmus is giving Jones the benefit of the doubt considering the circumstances.

England were without captain Owen Farrell, Anthony Watson, Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May which they likely won’t be come the World Cup.

Jones’ squad has 18 months to regroup and recover from England’s anti-climactic Six Nations before they launch their Webb Ellis trophy bid.

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