Eddie Jones says the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup rags-to-riches story is proof that England can still be among the title favourites at next year’s global showpiece.
Jones is clearly still in awe of how South Africa went from getting written off as contenders in 2018, to beating his more-fancied England side to lift the Webb Ellis Cup a year later.
The Boks’ remarkable turnaround was largely attributed to Rassie Erasmus who, ironically, has been widely tipped to replace Jones as the next England boss.
Despite the support of the England RFU, critics continue to question whether Jones is the man to lead the Red Roses to rugby’s showpiece in France in 2023, especially after England’s 25-13 Six Nations loss to Les Bleus on Saturday had them finish 15 points behind the Grand Slam champions.
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Jones was grilled by media after Saturday’s defeat in Paris, with reporters suggesting that hosts France are now odds-on to win their first World Cup next year, to which the Australian hit back: “You’re making judgements on a team now, and the World Cup is in 14 months’ time.
“So, if you were to make a judgement on South Africa 14 months before the [2019] World Cup, you would have said South Africa can’t win the World Cup; they had won 40% of their Tests in the previous 12 months. Those sorts of judgments are premature.
“In 14 months, that will be the case for us – the team will change considerably and we will either get stronger or get weaker, and our aim is going to make them stronger and you can’t know what is going to happen to France.”
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Jones added: “You don’t know who is going to be available for them but, certainly, the atmosphere [on Saturday] was intoxicating.
“That is the great thing about sport, you don’t know when a team is going to peak, and your aim as a coach is to peak them at the right time, and our aim is to peak at the World Cup and I have said that consistently.
“That has been the plan and that is what we are going to do.”
