(Reuters) – Eddie Jones, who resigned as Australia coach this week, believes the England rugby team have failed to make any progress since his sacking last year.
Jones, who will lead the Barbarians against Wales on Saturday, took England to the 2019 Rugby World Cup final and to three Six Nations titles.
“I had a good run with England, seven years, the highest winning percentage (for a coach). It was probably time to change, the RFU decided it was, so be it,” Jones told the Telegraph.
“But the interesting thing is the team hasn’t improved. We made a final in 2019 and got beat in a semi-final in 2023.
“For me, if I have a fault about my coaching, and like everyone you do, I always want a team that can win the World Cup. I’m not interested in a team that can compete at a World Cup.”
Jones was full of praise for his successor Steve Borthwick.
“I think Steve has done a fantastic job, a really good job,” the Australian said.
“He has gone back to bread and butter English rugby, but I was trying to move it past that, and I failed. But I would rather do that, than not do it.
“When you are playing that really attritional sort of rugby, you have to have some x-factor in your kick return, the rest of your play.
“That’s what I was searching for with England, a little bit of difference. Where you get that bad kick and you can go on it, you make them pay.”
Australia exited this year’s World Cup at the group stage, but Jones was not taking the blame.
“If you are not producing a winning team for 20 years, then it is not the coach, right? It’s the system. The system needs to change,” he said.
“I chose to take on a difficult job, a difficult job with certain conditions. When those conditions haven’t been met, I’ve chosen not to continue with the job.
“If people want to blame me for everything, that’s OK. I can’t control that.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
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