Analysis - Logic, not 'blind faith', behind RFU's backing of Jones

LONDON : The RFU insists that Eddie Jones remains the right man to lead England into the 2023 Rugby World Cup and it seems that, despite the latest Six Nations struggles, the Australian will still be given plenty of rope to work with to try to get it right.

After acknowledging that a second successive haul of two wins from five was not good enough, CEO Bill Sweeney delivered a strong defence of Jones and his "new England" at a media briefing at Twickenham on Thursday.

Sweeney said that Jones was "not bullet-proof and he knows it" and that his and England's performances were constantly under review, but he also said that his organisation were happy with recent progress in a whole host of areas that, as yet, have not manifested themselves into consistent results.

"People stay in their role because there is a belief that you are still heading in the right direction," he said.

Sweeney did point out that Jones had won three Six Nations championships, while it was only four months ago they were racking up an eighth successive victory over Australia and then beating world champions South Africa.

"I absolutely, totally get the frustration and that we have to find a way to win more matches and lift more trophies," Sweeney said.

"But you can’t just look in the rear-view mirror. You are constantly making judgements. Are we going to progress or are we deluding ourselves? Whenever we’ve had that conversation, we’ve come out on the side of ‘no, we think we’re going in the right direction as we’re transitioning this team'."

For all his "the next game is the most important" mantra, Jones has always sought to measure his success against the World Cup.

Such is the desperately limited pool of competitive teams in the sport, he knows that