No 'closed book' on Ireland coaching ticket, says Simon Easterby as Felix Jones remains on England leave

Amid all the moving and shaking between Andy Farrell's Lions sabbatical and the elevation of Simon Easterby to interim head coach, there’s a spot open for a defence coach with Ireland.

And Easterby, who will take over in the hot seat after the autumn internationals, hasn’t ruled out recruiting from outside the Irish system.

So, until the ticket for the Six Nations and summer tour is confirmed it’s not too far-fetched to suggest that a certain double World Cup-winning coach would be in the mix.

Felix Jones handed in his notice as defence coach for the RFU last month and is understood to be in the process of negotiating his way out of the contract, which had a 12-month release clause.

England, understandably, may be reluctant to hand a prize asset over to the back-to-back Six Nations winners but nothing could be ruled out at this stage.

A former Ireland full-back, Jones, who had a spell with the Irish backroom team on their tour of Japan in 2017, left his role at Munster to join the Springboks ahead of the 2019 World Cup.

There was no danger of Easterby replying directly to a question that name-dropped Jones (below) as a potential addition but the 49-year-old also declined to rule out the possibility.

"It could be either [from inside or outside the IRFU]," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"There's no closed book on this, it's pretty open and it's exciting really.

"If we think there's a need for something and we're losing a big personality in Faz [Andy Farrell] and a lot of IP [intellectual property] in what he brings to the group - if it means someone comes from within the system or outside, that'll be a conversation we have with David Humphreys [IRFU high performance director].

"I think he's open-minded to whatever adds to the group