EDDIE JONES will be unveiled as England’s first overseas head coach within the next week – a game-changing appointment which is set to lead to Chris Robshaw being axed as captain.
The workaholic Australian is understood to have been offered the post and accepted it, subject to a final settlement between the RFU and his current employers, the Stormers in South Africa.
When concluded, the compensation deal will see the 55-year-old installed in time to lead England into the Six Nations as successor to Stuart Lancaster.
Jones’s arrival is likely to spell the end for Robshaw as captain after leading England in 42 of their last 46 Tests. After England’s early elimination from the World Cup, Jones publicly questioned whether he was even worth his place in the side.
“I just don’t think he’s an open-side flanker. He’s more a 6 and a half,” Jones told Radio 4. “He’s an excellent player but the first thing you have to do for the captain is to make sure he’s going to be in the team.
“Can he find his place as blind-side flanker? I haven’t been looking at England’s players in depth so I’m really not privy to information on that.”
Jones will also be given a blank sheet of paper as far as his coaching team goes which should be a source of concern to Lancaster’s assistants Graham Rowntree, Mike Catt and Andy Farrell.
Jones is understood to be amenable to an English flavour to his back room but he will want to hand pick his own men and, of the trio, he has only worked with Farrell, before his spell at Saracens which ended in 2009.
While that link could offer Farrell a potential lifeline, there looks to be no future for either Rowntree, who has been part of the England set-up since 2007, or skills coach Catt, who was brought on board by Lancaster three years ago.
Bristol’s Steve Borthwick, who helped Jones plot Japan’s shock win over the Springboks at this year’s World Cup, would be the favourite to replace Rowntree as forwards coach although Saracens’ Alex Sanderson, who also worked with the Australian at the Queensland Reds, is a viable alternative.
The well-travelled Jones, who suffered a stroke two years ago, took the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final where they lost to England and was part of the South Africa coaching team that delivered the Webb Ellis Cup four years later.
The RFU fervently hope he will be the man to deliver the game’s biggest prize in Japan in 2019.
In a parallel development the RFU also look set to create a new post of performance director, a position first floated in 2011 when Lancaster and Sir Clive Woodward were among those interviewed for the role.
While it was scrapped on that occasion before any appointment was made, another World Cup flop has helped to revive the concept.
Woodward would jump at the chance to take the job but has not worked in rugby management for eight years.
Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea would be much nearer the top of any potential shortlist with Newcastle’s Dean Richards another alternative.
It is not impossible that Lancaster could even make a swift return to the RFU in the position.
While his departure as head coach was inevitable after the World Cup, it was a surprise that Twickenham did not choose to retain him in some capacity given his unparalleled knowledge of the English system and the players in the supply line.
