Eddie Jones will have to change his ways if England are going to have a chance of winning the World Cup next year. Jones has an ego – he can be stubborn and impulsive – and we hear it in his conversations with the media.
There were rumours he got very close to being shown the door both before and during this tour. He is apparently quite challenging verbally away from the team and if the losses had continued the noise would have only got louder and stronger.
The victory over South Africa in the third Test takes the emphasis away from him, but there is no respite. There are adjustments to be made and he has to realise some of those adjustments are with himself.
THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK
Eddie always tries to set the narrative when he talks to the media, but in reality the game sets the narrative.
Before the tour he said he wanted England to go to South Africa and win 3-0, and that was typically bullish of him.
He doesn’t hold back when talking about ambition and intent and maybe one of the lessons he’s learnt from this tour is to re-think what he says, how he says it and when he says it.
There is the old saying ‘engage the brain before opening the mouth’ and he needs to do this sometimes. He needs to stop battling the press and when they ask silly questions, ignore them. It’s not clever to tell the media he’s left 25 players behind in England.
He’s been around a long time so it’s difficult to change but there’s no reason why he can’t adjust. No-one is asking him to change completely, but certainly some adjustment is required.
What worked for him in Australia and in Japan doesn’t always work in England. He said he was going to build on what England’s strengths are. He did this in the third Test but they were horribly missing in the first two.