England coach Eddie Jones is under pressure. Photo / AP
England coach Eddie Jones is under pressure. Photo / AP
OPINION:
So the fickle finger of fate turns from Ian Foster and finds another international coach to focus on: England's Eddie Jones.
England and Jones have now lost five of their seven tests this year (and four in a row), a record which would inevitably mean change if it appliedto an All Black coach – though another loss in Brisbane is far from certain.
It doesn't do to underestimate Jones, a man whose clever thinking on the game is often masked by a flurry of verbal arrows and bluster. Yet his whole career can be traced in a series of hills and valleys – where the peaks precede what seems an irretrievable trip to the troughs.
His drive and belief spur players to begin with – but he can be hard to take in large doses, by all accounts, and is a hard taskmaster in more ways than one; there are reports of him exhausting his players in training before that embarrassing 52-21 loss to a 14-man Barbarians selection.
Early in his career, he was successful with the Brumbies and Australia, winning the 2001 Tri-Nations; he took the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final, dispatching the All Blacks in the semifinal, before his Wallabies lost seven tests in a row in 2005. He was dumped.
His future seemed bleak after failure followed with the Queensland Reds. But his assistant coach gig with the Springboks in 2007 saw him hailed a big influence in helping South Africa win that World Cup - and the Jones-led upset of the Boks by Japan at the 2015 World Cup still ranks as the biggest boilover in rugby history, leading to his England appointment.
Now England seem in a quandary; caught between two styles of play and not making the transition well – a bit like a golfer tinkering with a swing that didn't need a tinker.
They looked especially silly last weekend, losing to a 14-man Australia whose line-up had to be hurriedly patched up when Quade Cooper was injured in the warm-up (though Noah Lolesio played a blinder) and early injuries to key players like fullback Tom Banks and prop Allan Alaalatoa.
But even though the British media pack are circling, reminding Jones and everyone else that Jones' narrative has changed from wanting to be "the best team in the world" to "we need time to build", talk of Jones' demise might be premature.
The main reason: he has time. England's group in the World Cup is nothing like as problematical as New Zealand's, with the All Blacks having to contend with France. England have Japan, Argentina, Samoa and a qualifier from the Americas and, while no one would be daft enough to say an upset won't occur, most wagers would be on England going through undefeated; they will still have time to bed in combinations.
England coach Eddie Jones watches his players warm-up ahead the rugby international between England and the Wallabies in Perth, Australia. Photo / AP
However, there's little doubt they have a hill to climb. They have tried to change their style from grinding forward pack, kicking for territory, kicking penalties and strong defence to the all-singing, all-dancing combination that so impressively outplayed the All Blacks in 2019.
They've not attained that standard again – and are now displaying a worrying inability to finish, in both senses of the word. They have consistently lost the last quarter of many of their tests and, against the Wallabies, they should have scored two tries…but didn't…and were leading 14-9 against 14 men and should have won…but didn't.
They are unsure who to play at first-five, so have tried to fix the problem by playing both Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell. It's given their midfield a vulnerable look, even if they can yet wait for the injury-prone Manu Tuilagi to return at second-five after knee surgery. England are also debating whether to continue to play a lock (skipper Courtney Lawes) at blindside flanker, a la Scott Barrett and are making more experimental-style selections than many judges are happy about.
Their troubles with their adopted style is their biggest problem – though they can always revert to old England if they have to. However, the main reason they lost to Australia was mental; it looked totally as if they thought they would win, letting Australia back in it.
Farrell also missed kicks he would normally make and they showed what they can do late in the game when Australia relaxed. England will wind up the intensity in Brisbane tonight.
In the meantime, Jones continues to give the impression of a coach under pressure by coming out with twaddle like the referee trying to "even up" the game after sending off Australia's Darcy Swain in the first test. He also distracted by comparing tenderfoot winger Henry Arundell to both David Campese and Bryan Habana.
Arundell clearly has extreme pace but he has, almost literally, been around for five minutes. It will be interesting to see how he performs when (a) he is the target of a Springbok kicking game and (b) when someone like Caleb Clarke is running at him.
Significantly, Arundell remains on the bench tonight. He may well turn out to be a true find but, right now, he is only a diversion for Jones to draw attention away from England's shortcomings.
