England’s Australian coach Eddie Jones will continue to coach England through to the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Jones, who took the helm of England in late 2015, has signed a new contract extension with the RFU.
It will see the 60-year-old head up the England coaching team for four more years. The next World Cup is in France with which Jones will be familiar thanks to the Six Nations Championship.
Although England failed at the final hurdle at the World Cup in Japan, Jones’ 78% win ratio is the best ever of any England coach.
He has overseen 42 wins in 54 Tests, including leading them to last year’s stunning victory over New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final.
In the end they were well beaten by an outstanding South African team in the final, but this is a major reason why Jones is staying with England. It also has a lot to do with why they are sticking with him. He firmly believes they can and will win in France
‘Great honor” says Jones
“The extension is a great honor for me,” he said after his appointment, “but in the current environment, it is only right to acknowledge what a difficult time the world is facing.
“We are all looking forward to a time when we can get back to playing rugby and to using the sport as a force for good in bringing people back together.
“I never thought coming here four years ago I would be doing a second four years, but the circumstances are right.
“Obviously it is important for the team that we keep improving and my focus will be solely on that.”
Among the highlights of his England tenure, Jones has led England to two Six Nations titles – including a Grand Slam in 2016 – a 3-0 series victory in Australia and an 18-match unbeaten run.
Won his first World Cup with South Africa
He was unable to win the 2003 World Cup during his spell as head coach of Australia. Shades of Japan; the Wallabies were beaten by England after they had upset the All Blacks in the semi-final.
But he did win the 2007 World Cup with South Africa when he served as the chief assistant to Springbok head coach Jake White.
Jones added: “I am excited about raising the standards again. We have a great team. We set out four years ago to be the best team in the world and unfortunately we missed that by 80 minutes.
“Now we want to be the team that is remembered as being the greatest team the game has ever seen. It’s a big ambition but I believe we are capable of doing it.
“We have players with an enhanced reputation we have a team that is expected to do well, so it’s a great opportunity for us to keep moving forward.”
Jones England performance by numbers
Here, using Stats Perform data, we take a look at Jones’ tenure in numbers.
78 per cent – Having led his team to victory in 42 of 54 games, Jones has the best win ratio of any coach in England’s history.
42 wins – Those 42 wins are the second most of all time and Jones should exceed World Cup winner Clive Woodward’s 59 victories in the coming years.
40 players – Across Jones’ time in charge, 40 players have been handed England debuts. Of those, 26 are forwards and 14 are backs.
23 tries – Jonny May has certainly enjoyed Jones’ coaching, the wing crossing for 23 tries. Elliot Daly has the second-most tries with 15.
52 caps – Jones has handed a cap to fly-half George Ford in all but two of his 54 games at the helm. England’s current captain Owen Farrell has the second-most appearances under Jones with 48.
571 points – Farrell, who has played mostly at centre for Jones, has by far and away the most points, though. His tally of 571 is significantly more than those of Ford (174) and May (115).
2 Six Nations titles – England won the Six Nations in each of Jones’ first two campaigns. In 2016, Jones delivered the country’s first Grand Slam in 13 years.
18 wins in a row – A second Grand Slam was dashed by Ireland in March 2017. That 13-9 loss in Dublin brought an end to England’s 18-Test winning run, a joint-record they held with New Zealand.
7-0 v Australia – The nation England has beaten the most often under Jones is ironically Australia, the country of his birth. England has won all seven of their matches against the Wallabies.
24 – @EnglandRugby‘s 24-point victory was their joint biggest Test win against Australia, in fact their three biggest victories against the Wallabies have come under Eddie Jones. Masterful.#RWC2019 #ENGvAUS pic.twitter.com/NugKbW99tB
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) October 19, 2019