Eddie Jones signs new contract to lead England into 2023 Rugby World Cup
Eddie Jones will lead England into the next Rugby World Cup after signing a new two-year contract extension.
The 60-year-old will coach the national team at a second consecutive World Cup in France in 2023, having extended his current deal to put lingering doubt over his position to bed. The Australian was previously contracted until the end of next season, and had been non-committal on whether he would remain in charge beyond the summer of 2021.
But with the Rugby Football Union currently handling the coronavirus crisis and the effect that it is having on the English game, they have put an end to the uncertainty surrounding Jones by committing him to a new deal, which should he see out will make him the longest-serving England coach in history surpassing Sir Clive Woodward.
“The extension is a great honour for me, but in the current environment, it is only right to acknowledge what a difficult time the world is facing,” Jones said on Thursday.
“We are all looking forward to a time when we can get back to playing rugby and use 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.”
Jones will look to go one better in 2023 after leading England to the World Cup final last year in Japan, only to come unstuck against South Africa in a disappointing final performance. That rebuilding project was halted this winter when England’s final Six Nations match against Italy was postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19, but once rugby resumes in the near future, Jones will continue with his attempts to build “the greatest team the sport has seen”, as he has previously claimed.
“I am excited about raising the standards again,” Jones added. “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.”
The RFU’s chief executive Bill Sweeney revealed that a verbal agreement to extend Jones’s contract was agreed immediately after the World Cup, but the desire to announce it at the end of the Six Nations was delayed by the coronavirus crisis.
“We reached an understanding soon after returning from Japan but there were some things that we wanted to make sure worked for both sides,” said Sweeney.
“We have announced Eddie’s contract extension a few weeks later than planned as our focus was diverted to support the English rugby community during this difficult time, we are now turning our attention to developing plans to support the rebooting of rugby and a winning England team will provide a vital role in that.
“We are delighted that Eddie will continue as head coach to run England’s campaign to take us to the 2023 Rugby World Cup. His record since joining speaks for itself and he has proven why he is one of the best coaches in world rugby. The progress shown by England since 2015 has been indisputable and having fielded the youngest-ever team to play in a World Cup final, we know even more growth is possible. We are all excited by what this squad can do and having Eddie leading the team is very important to us.”
He added: “My thoughts and those of all of us at the RFU are with everyone impacted by Covid-19, both across the country at large but also within our own rugby union community. In exceptionally difficult times, we are pleased to be sharing some good news.”
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