Eddie Jones: Pressure to win makes England job uniquely difficult

Eddie Jones says the unremitting pressure to win throughout the Rugby World Cup cycle makes the England head coach job the hardest in the sport.

Jones was in charge of England for almost seven years, steering them to the final of Japan 2019.

However, England won only five out of 12 Tests in 2022, leading to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) deciding to fire Jones nine months out from the next World Cup.

"In English rugby, you can never talk about rebuilding because the expectation is you win all the time," Jones told BBC Sport.

Asked whether the England head coach role was uniquely difficult in that respect, Jones replied: "It is, but that's the deal.

"You know when you get the job, you're accepting into that, so you can't complain about that. You've just got to get on with it.

"You've just got to make sure you keep your head above water, mate."

South Africa, the reigning two-time world champions, have gone into the past two World Cups on the back of indifferent form in the preceding years.

In 2018 - current coach Rassie Erasmus' first year in charge - the Springboks won seven of their 14 Tests. Across 2021 and 2022, their win rate was only 61.5%.

They were ranked fifth and fourth in the world at the end of those respective periods, but timed their tilt at the Webb Ellis Cup to perfection on each occasion.

Jones, now in charge of Japan, says his sacking by England coincided with hitting a "no man's land" between a set of experienced older players who had begun to fade, and a younger generation who were yet to develop enough to take their place.

"The team I inherited from the 2015 World Cup, we basically took the same team to the 2019 World Cup," said Jones.

"By the time you get to 2023, some of those players are starting to drop off. They're still good players, but they're not quite there.

"Then you've got that no man's land where you've got younger players who aren't quite good enough. They're good, but they're not quite good enough to be Test match winners."

Jones believes his successor Steve Borthwick, under whom England have won their past seven Tests and finished third at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, is managing the transition well.

"Steve inherited that [situation] and did a great job at the 2023 World Cup," Jones said.

"He coached very efficiently and got the most out of that squad. And now he's creating a different squad."

England's pair of Test wins against Argentina in the summer caught Jones' eye.

"He's starting to build a really effective style," Jones said. "They played some really good rugby against Argentina - pragmatic, very efficient, tough, keep-at-it, all the attributes that Steve had as a player."

Borthwick was Jones' forwards coach during the Australian's most successful spell with England, and the pair similarly combined to help Japan to a landmark win over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.

Jones says the Brave Blossoms' 34-32 win over the Springboks has had the biggest legacy of any result in his 30-year coaching career.

"How does it rate? Well, probably in terms of the implications of that win, it's the most important," Jones said.

"2015 was the catalyst for the 2019 World Cup, when Japan hosted a very, very good World Cup and, for the first time ever and the only time, made the quarter-final.

"That's a pretty rare achievement for a country outside the big eight in the world.

"The 2023 World Cup was a bit tougher for Japan, but it's allowed Japan to be in the top tier of countries in the world and compete at the highest level.

"Like this year, if you just look at our end-of-season tour, we play Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales, Georgia.

"When I had Japan in 2012, we came across and played Romania and Georgia and had a pick-up game against the French Barbarians.

"So it allows the players the opportunity to play against the best in the world, to put Japan in the top tier, all from that game in 2015."

After overseeing Australia's pool-stage exit from the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Jones is leading Japan for a second time.

On Saturday, some 10 years on from that shock in Brighton, his side take on South Africa again on British soil, meeting at Wembley Stadium.

The match will pit Jones against South Africa's Erasmus, who has similarly mixed innovation and outspokenness during his coaching career.

Jones says he learned most about Erasmus via a laptop he was given during a short-term stint with the Springboks during their title-winning run at the 2007 World Cup.

"I took over from Rassie in 2007 as a technical adviser, and I inherited his computer, which had the most intricate tactical information about the teams we were about to play," said Jones.

"He's always had that really sharp mind about rugby, and he's always coached to the edge, always looking to find a way to maximise the laws of the game.

"And he's always given me a nice bottle of South African red wine at the end of the games, which I always appreciate!"

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