Eddie Jones has been backed to lead England at next year’s World Cup after the Rugby Football Union insisted “Eddie is the guy to take us there”.
The Australian has a contract until the end of the 2023 tournament in France and eased mounting pressure on his position by masterminding this month’s 2-1 tour victory over his native country.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said Jones’ impressive record against major southern hemisphere nations – 20 wins from 25 – was central to the national governing body keeping faith.
He also conceded that evolving England require improvement in a number of areas in order to be competitive during Test rugby’s showpiece competition. “We’d expect him to go through to ’23,” Sweeney said of Jones. “It is tough at the highest level of sport.