Today it was officially announced that Eddie Jones, the new England Coach, had started to make his impact on the international team after two weeks of settling in. After trouble entering the country due to embarrassing issues with his visa, Jones has spent the past two weeks talking to the current captain Chris Robshaw, the coaches left behind by Stuart Lancaster, the coaches of the clubs in the Aviva Premiership and some of the other players as well. These conversations along with previous performances have given Eddie Jones the opinion that it is time to move on and bring in some fresh blood and ideas to the backroom staff.
This has meant that after many years of service and only signing a 6 year contract 14 months ago, Graham Rowntree, Mike Catt and Andy Farrell have all been let go along with Matt Parker who was Head of Athletic Performance and was relieved of duty last Wednesday.
It is expected that Steve Borthwick who was part of Jones coaching team for Japan during the World Cup will replace Rowntree once Bristol finalize the release of the ex-Saracens captain. Additionally Paul Gustard, who is the current Saracens defense coach, has been offered a place alongside Jones, who is the man that brought Gustard into coaching originally. Furthermore, it is likely that it is Jones himself who will take charge of England’s attack, but it is also believed that the Australian is looking for a backs coach and it is also likely he will bring in a scrum expert to work alongside Borthwick, like Marc dal Maso did for Japan.
Jones said that it was one of the hardest things to let people go and that he wants to work with people who share his philosophy and that can bring new ideas to the team.
