In Brief

England head coach Eddie Jones warned results must improve

RFU backs the Australian but he must deliver success in the autumn internationals

by The Week team

31 Jul 2018

Eddie Jones England rugby coach Scotland Six Nations

Australian Eddie Jones was appointed England rugby’s head coach in 2015

David Rogers/Getty Images

England head coach Eddie Jones has been tasked by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to deliver results in the upcoming autumn internationals.

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It’s been a tough year so far for English rugby after finishing fifth in the Six Nations and losing the Test series in South Africa. England were on a five-Test losing run before winning the final match against the Springboks 25-10 in Cape Town.

Sky Sports reports that the RFU has warned Jones that England “are expected to reverse their recent slump by delivering a successful autumn campaign”. In November England host South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia on consecutive weekends at Twickenham.

“We plan to win every game we play - we expect success in the autumn,” said RFU chief executive Steve Brown. “I don’t want to predict failure, I’d rather predict success, but that’s not in blind faith. They’re all big matches. We’re planning to come out of the other side successful.”

The BBC adds that the RFU is backing Jones to lead England at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, but “has held discussions about his recent behaviour” after confrontations with opposition supporters in Scotland and South Africa.

RFU chief Brown said: “We have discussed specific incidents that have occurred and talked about how they can be handled moving forward.

“We should never have those things played out in public but we are talking about people in very intense situations, so I guess it is reasonable to expect that sometimes people don’t behave exactly as you want them to.”