Rugby World Cup 2019: Eddie Jones vows to lead England into 2020 Six Nations

The head coach refused however to be drawn on whether he would extend his current contract to include the 2023 World Cup

An emotional Eddie Jones bristled in defence of his England players after their Rugby World Cup final failure and vowed that he will fulfil his Rugby Football Union (RFU) contract and lead the side into the 2020 Six Nations.

Jones suffered an agonising second World Cup final defeat as a head coach, following the 2003 loss to England while Australia boss, with South Africa inflicting a heavy 32-12 demolition on them in Saturday’s clash in Yokohama.

Jones struggled to cope with his emotions after the match, hitting out at the media for being “negative” before sarcastically apologising for the loss. He later returned to his claims that he had been “written off” three weeks earlier despite England going into their quarter-final with Australia as favourites.

That win meant that England had met their minimum expectation set by the RFU before the tournament, and made a break clause in Jones’s contract redundant given it could have been terminated had England’s performance in Japan not been up to scratch.

Instead, England marched past New Zealand in phenomenal circumstances to reach a fourth final and second against the Springboks, only to hit a flat note on Saturday as they found themselves completely dominated by a powerful South African side.

Yet while Jones refused to discuss his own future after the match, he has since dismissed any thoughts of walking out on the side, with the Australian stressing that he is fully committed to the two remaining years on his contract.

“The only game that’s going to matter now is the first game of the Six Nations and I think we’ve got France. That’s the only game that matters,” Jones said. “I’ll definitely be there, I’m contracted for another two years. I’ll be in my work tomorrow mate, ready to go – Pennyhill Park on Monday afternoon, ready to go.

“I’m sorry guys, I’m going to be there for another two years. I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

However, Jones would not be drawn on whether he will seek a contact extension, despite RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney expressing his preference to extend his stay through the entire World Cup cycle leading to France 2023 in order to give the team full continuity.

Eddie Jones will remain at the England helm for the Six Nations (Getty)

“It’s not my decision,” Jones bristled. “I think there is a Union that gives out contracts and they decide how long the contracts are, not the coach.”

“Remember three weeks ago, guys, I was going to get the sack. I read all your articles guys. There was going to be blood on the walls at Twickenham. All the blood was going to be up here. Remember what you wrote, all the blood was going to be there three weeks ago. You wrote it guys, come on. Let’s get real about this.

“I’ve signed for two years, mate, I am going to do two years. That’s the only question.”

Jones was able at least to expand on his understanding of why England struggled so much to establish a foothold in the match, which left them chasing the game and conceding two late tries that ended any hope of a fightback. His side were completely dominated in the scrum until the introduction of Joe Marler in the second half for Mako Vunipola, with Dan Cole also failing to get on the right side of referee Jerome Garces after replacing the concussed Kyle Sinckler just two minutes into the final, and Jones likened the pressure on his side to that of a cricket batsman when pinned onto the back foot.

Eddie Jones wouldn’t however be drawn on whether he will extend his contract (Getty)

“It’s sport mate. We’ve got 23 individuals, they’ve got 23 individuals and the psychological level of teams is never constant,” he explained. “They are always changing. And we got caught today. They won a significant area of the game, which was the scrum, which tended to trickle down into the rest of the game and then you are battling to get on the front foot. You’re batting here [moves onto back foot] all the time and it’s hard to score runs when the ball is up here all the time. That’s what happened today. We couldn’t get out of it. We tried to break it and sometimes you lose your wicket, which happened.

“In a game like that which was a nip and tuck game – three points, three points, three points, three points – they broke away a little bit at the end when we were trying to push the game. When you’ve got a scrum advantage it’s difficult to push to stay in that nip and tuck [battle]. Full credit to South Africa they scrummed well and that’s the game.”

The one thing Jones will have to give immediate attention to upon his return to England is who will form the make-up of his new backroom staff. John Mitchell, like Jones, has signed up for another two years to remain defence coach, but scrum coach Neal Hatley will head to Bath and both Steve Borthwick and Scott Wisemantel could be heading for the exit too, with the former strongly linker with Leicester Tigers and the latter heading back to Australia to teach until he decides where his next opportunities lie.

Jones’s boss Sweeney confirmed on Sunday that wheels are already in motion with who the head coach wants to come aboard his team, with an announcement due to be made well before the end of the year.

“Even before we came here and during the tournament, [Eddie] is already drawing up his plans about what that coaching team will be,” Sweeney said. “He’s got some names in the frame and some of them have been spoken to already.

“We don’t have a plan for announcing it yet, but that will be something that should happen pretty quickly after we get back.”