England was left looking for a new head coach nine months before next year’s World Cup after the Rugby Football Union announced Tuesday eddy jones he had been fired from the position.
Veteran Australian coach Jones has paid the price of presiding over England’s worst year since 2008, the team losing six of 12 Tests, winning five and drawing one.
He is the second head coach to be sacked in 24 hours: Wayne Pivac was replaced as Wales boss by his predecessor Warren Gatland.
Jones was signed to lead the team to the 2023 World Cup final in France, he guided them to the 2019 final where they were beaten by South Africa, but the RFU have now decided to curtail their seven-year reign.
Steve Borthwick, the former England captain turned director of rugby at Premiership champions Leicester, is the favorite to succeed Jones full-time, having made a name for himself as a coach as the 62-year-old’s long-serving substitute. .
But the RFU said on Tuesday that forwards coach Richard Cockerill would take charge of England on an interim basis.
“Following a review of the Autumn Nations Series, Eddie Jones has been sacked from the role of England head coach,” an RFU statement said.
Jones, for his part, said he looked back with some pride at the accomplishments during his tenure.
“I am pleased with a lot of what we have achieved as an England team and I look forward to seeing how the team performs in the future,” he said.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney agreed.
“It’s important to recognize the enormous contribution Eddie has made to English rugby, winning three Six Nations, a Grand Slam and taking us to a World Cup final,” Sweeney said.
