So there it is, the Eddie regime comes crashing down. The ‘review board’ found him guilty of planning too much for the World Cup that they so desperately want to win and have cast him out just 9 months before the competition begins.
Now, I have been really quite torn on this decision, as I know many in the RFU will have been too. I have long been an Eddie faithful; I like his grit, I like his devious planning, I like trusting his judgment and more importantly, I quite like his ability to get it right come RWC time.
But, as many others, in recent months, that love has been replaced with ever growing frustration. With fan repeatedly asking when will England finally deliver? Only back in 2020 did Eddie state that this England side will become the best team to have ever played the game, and then just in the 2021 autumn campaign did we hear the promise of a ‘New England’ (whatever that was). These ill-fated predictions have ultimately come to haunt Jones and have led the RFU to become too impatient with results. He is in a sense, the master of his own downfall, as is the Eddie way of course.
It is quite clear that Eddies reign and coaching style was full of complexities, but one thing was clear, it was all part of the RWC mission. The selections post 2019 were however often dumfounding, George Martin on the bench against Wales 2021 (didn’t even bring him on) is a particular highlight. Honourable mentions are the Curry experiment at 8 and the big talk but fleeting appearances of George Furbank, Paolo Odogwu and Adam Radwan but to name a few.
And yes, his coaching style is also clearly very abrasive, leading to high coaching and player turnover.
The results, and more importantly the performances post 2019 have been terrible, (and I think it’s incredibly important to create the distinction between pre and post 2019).
However, despite all this, I believe its the wrong call to sack him.
Why have the RFU so strongly trusted Eddie with the 2023 World Cup mission, extending his contract in 2020, putting all their eggs in one basket, to then just bottle it at the last moment and cast him aside? It makes no sense.
This decision shows that the RFU clearly rue the decision to not sack him in 2021, after two out of five wins in the Six Nations.
They’ve been immensely jealous of the rapid development of Ireland and France and they are playing catch up. Now is the time to trust him more not to withdraw your support. The RFU asked him to deliver a long term plan and that's what he's doing, regardless of whether the results have been promising or not.
Yet amongst the backdrop of the poor results, you could still say, with a lot of credibility that you backed England to win the RWC in 2023.
Now, suddenly overnight, that claim lacks a lot more strength. Englands chances of winning the next World Cup have considerably dropped because of the sacking of Jones.
Yes, Jones likely stayed too long. His current side looked devoid of ideas, it had lost the fans and it lacked cutting edge despite the obviously talented squad.
But now it just feels like a wasted few years, the new coach (who will undoubtedly not have the pedigree or experience of Jones) only has five competitive games to put his imprint on this side.
And what's to say that Eddie won't deploy his consultancy ervices elsewhere to a rival union ahead of the RWC. Possibly even to Japan or Argentina, England's group stage opponents. Now wouldn't that be an apt end to the Jones and England relationship.
For all of Eddies faults, which there were many, you cannot deny that he didn’t have a plan. Ultimately the RFU bottled it, just at the very moment they needed to double down.
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