Eddie Jones has fallen out of love with England, insisting he has no emotional connection to the side he coached for seven years before his sacking last December.
Jones will be back in the Twickenham coaching box on Sunday for the first time since the Rugby Football Union fired him when he takes charge of the Barbarians against a World XV. Though he is relishing the return, Jones said he was unfazed about the sort of reception he will receive from the Twickenham crowd.
Steve Borthwick’s appointment brought little improvement to England during another disappointing Six Nations campaign and though Jones said he watched all of the tournament’s matches, he also initially said: “I don’t watch England.”
“I’ve been lucky enough to coach internationally, and when you go to a team I love the team I’m coaching, but then when I move then I don’t have any regrets, any bad feelings,” Jones said. “I want that team to do OK, but there’s no emotional attachment to that team any more.
“They’re just one of the six teams in the Six Nations - I watch them, I think about them like all the teams how I would coach them if I had that team, and then if we come up against them I’ve already got something in my head.”
After his sacking - and shortly after he had been snapped up by Australia - Jones said he would not speak to his former employers should England face the Wallabies at this year’s World Cup. Asked about the prospect of running into the union’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, on Sunday, however, Jones said: “I don’t hold any grudges against anyone. I have moved on. If they are not moved on that’s their problem, not my problem.
“I never worry about things I can’t control. I don’t control [the sort of reception I’ll get], so it’s no use even thinking about it. I had a great seven years here. Loved my time here and I’m looking forward to it. The sun is shining. It will be unbelievable. I am going to enjoy every moment of it.”
Jones has detailed the pain of being sacked by Australia in 2005 as well as the length of time it took him to process that disappointment. Profile and reputation restored with England, however, he said his dismissal by England did not evoke the same feelings. “When I left Australia I was just a young bloke, it was the dream job, then you think what you are going to do next,” he added. “Post-England I always knew there were possibilities. There was always going to be a job there.”
Jones was able to take the Australia job so quickly because the RFU did not include a non-compete clause in his contract. With England and Australia on the same side of the draw in France, the sides could meet in the quarter-finals, but Jones’s World Cup thoughts are more occupied with tactical trends.
He was adamant it was not a barb at Borthwick’s England but Jones believes that “just kicking” will not be enough to win the World Cup. According to Jones, it was for that reason that his long-term plan to bring change to his England side brought short-term pain last autumn and justifies Borthwick’s claim that the team he inherited were “not good at anything”.
“It is true,” said Jones. “We were trying to build a team to win the World Cup. I don’t believe you are going to be able to win the World Cup by just kicking. I don’t believe you can. I can be proven wrong. But I think with the grounds as they are, you are going to need to play more positive rugby. Steve was right.”
Jones’s final match of his tenure at Twickenham was against South Africa and though he had a formidable home record across his tenure it was a defeat by the Springboks, the same side who denied England the World Cup crown in 2019, that ultimately led to his exit. “As my wife said, when you play against South Africa and you had a go in 2019 and you can’t beat them, your time’s up.”
