Representatives of various countries
2022.12.06
［ Satoshi Takehana ］
Eddie Jones, who has been manager of the England national team since November 2015, was dismissed less than a year before the Rugby World Cup. The English Rugby Union (RFU) made the official announcement on 6 December.
A successor will be announced in the near future.
England have won only one of their last four Autumn Nations Series games against Japan (52-13). They managed to equalize with New Zealand in a pre-match offensive (25-25), but were defeated by South Africa (13-27) and even Argentina (29-30).
Jones even called this fall’s test match a ‘Mini World Cup’, with Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa in that order. After defeating Argentina and Japan in the same group in the group stage of next year’s World Cup, they were planning to face New Zealand and South Africa, who were highly likely to meet in the finals, and finish this fall with a 4-game undefeated victory.
This summer’s Australian expedition won with 2 wins and 1 loss, but in the Six Nations (European 6 nations competition), it ended in 3rd place with 2 wins and 3 losses. England’s record in 2022 is 5 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw. This record is a “catastrophe” since 2008 when it became a record slump of 4 wins and 7 losses. The English Rugby Union, which is said to boast the world’s largest budget and is effectively operated as a large British company. If it does not bring results, it will make a ruthless British company-like decision to go for results through bold restructuring.
Jones, who is considered to be the most expensive manager of the national team, has an annual income of 750,000 pounds (about 125 million yen). Since he was contracted until the end of the 2023 World Cup, there should be a penalty for early termination, but the association must have been quite determined to replace the director even if it costs that.
Jones is known for his outspokenness, and at pre-match press conferences, he calls out the opposing team’s players and coaches in psychological warfare.
Including the Grand Slam in 2016, the first year of his appointment, he won the Six Nations title three times in seven years, and finished runner-up in the 2019 World Cup. . At the age of 62, he believes he still has a long way to go as a rugby coach, and may even come to the World Cup stage as a coach for another country’s national team. He still doesn’t know which country it will be, or if this will be his last job as national coach.