Admission: Jones has agreed with Borthwick’s criticism of his England team
(Picture: Getty Images)Eddie Jones has accepted Steve Borthwick’s withering criticisms of the end of his England tenure.
Former England boss Jones admitted new Red Rose head coach Borthwick was “probably right” to claim he inherited a broken team that “weren’t good at anything”.
Jones was sacked in December after seven years at the England helm and following the Test team’s worst calendar year results since 2008 in a chastening 2022.
Australian taskmaster Jones has quickly returned for a second stint of the Wallabies however and could yet meet former employers England in the World Cup quarter-finals in the autumn.
In accepting Borthwick’s damning verdict, Jones said: “Well he’s probably right and that’s part of the problem.
"We were trying to morph a team that had had a very good set-piece and very good kicking game.
"The way that the game is played at the moment, that will win you games but it’s probably not good enough to be World Cup champions.
"And so expanding the attack sometimes takes away from your strengths and they’re going through that difficult period now where they’re trying to get that balance right in their game.”
England launched the Borthwick era with 29-23 defeat by Scotland last weekend, and will host Italy at Twickenham on Sunday desperate to hit back to winning ways.
Backing new boss Borthwick to turn the tide with England, Jones insisted he could happily shoulder the blame for the Twickenham side’s current predicament.
“Steve will fix it, there’s no doubt he’ll fix it,” Jones told podcast Eddie.
“And keep blaming me. That’s all right, I’ve got a pretty strong back and pretty strong shoulders to absorb that.”
