Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has encouraged his England successor to “keep blaming me” for the team’s struggles, while warning supporters to brace for “more pain” in 2023.
England coach Steve Borthwick raised eyebrows after losing his first Test in charge against Scotland, stating the side he inherited from Jones “weren’t good at anything.”
Jones and Borthwick have a long history together, with the Australian first signing the big lock at Saracens before grooming him as an assistant coach with Japan and England.
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And Jones was given the opportunity to respond to Borthwick’s stinging assessment on his new podcast, Eddie, with long-time confidant David Pembroke.
“Yeah, well, he’s probably right. And that was part of the problem,” said Jones, who was fired by England last year after seven mostly successful seasons.
“You know, we were trying to morph a team that had been a very good set piece, a very good kicking team. I think the way the game is played at the moment, that’ll win you games but it’s probably not good enough to be a World Cup champion.
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“And so expanding the attack then sometimes takes away from your strengths and they’re going through a difficult period now where they’re trying to get the balance right in a game, but Steve will fix it. There’s no doubt he’ll fix it and keep blaming me.
“That’s all right. I’ve got a pretty strong back and pretty strong shoulders to absorb that.”
Borthwick’s debut Test in charge was ruined by Duhan van der Merwe’s late try as Scotland opened its Six Nations campaign with a 29-23 win at Twickenham.
And Jones had some cutting observations to make about the team’s tactics.
“It was interesting, England went with a long kicking game, which is reminiscent of how Steve coached at Leicester and the kicking game ended up costing him two tries on kick return,” Jones said.
“Scotland, with Duhan van der Merwe, were absolutely outstanding in returning the ball and they won that kick return game… England is still going through a rebuilding stage.
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“You know, everyone wants it to be done and finished. But when you’ve got a young 15, a young 10, a young nine, a young eight – Freddie (Steward) and Marcus (Smith) have still played under 20 caps.
“Jack (van Poortvliet) at nine’s played under 10 caps and Alex Dombrandt’s probably only started in six or seven Tests, not a lot of tests.
“And those guys, you know, when you’re young players, inconsistency, unfortunately is part of your apprenticeship at Test level, and you get that little bit of up and down in performance, lapses in concentration but as they build their Tests up and they build the maturity up to play Test level, they’re going to be really good players.
“So yeah, there’s probably a little bit more pain to go for England, which is hard for the supporters and hard for the coaches, but I’m sure they’ll get through it.”
England host Italy in the second round of the Six Nations on Monday (AEDT).
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