After England finished third in the Guinness Six Nations, Eddie Jones declined to answer questions about his future but said his performance as head coach was not good enough.
After an impressive 25-13 victory in Paris, France has been named Grand Slam champions for the first time since 2010, despite a shaky performance prompted by the occasion’s anxieties preventing them from pulling clear at any point.
England has already finished the tournament with three defeats for the third time in five years, a disappointing showing that raises questions about Jones’ suitability to remain as head coach barely 18 months before the World Cup.
But he stated that it is up to Bill Sweeney, the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive, to decide if he should remain.
“That is not a question I need to answer. I just do my job. It’s a question for other people to answer. I am not even thinking about that,”
“I’m disappointed. Disappointed for the fans, for the players. I obviously haven’t done a good enough job, I accept that, but we’re moving in the right direction. The results aren’t good enough. When you rebuild a team it takes time.”
England’s tenacity, evidently throughout the Six Nations, prevented France from gaining a clear advantage, and they dominated early in the second half, scoring a try through Freddie Steward.
Antoine Dupont, though, responded with a brilliant effort to reclaim control, and while the visitors stayed in the game with commendable tenacity, they lacked the firepower to pierce a resolute defence a second time.
Jones Comment on France winning the Six Nations:
“France are deserved champions of the Six Nations, they are the best team, but we had enough chances to win that game, we just didn’t put them away. We were not quite clinical enough in doing that,”
“That has been a little bit of the story for us in the Six Nations, we have put ourselves in positions to win the three games we have lost but not been clinical enough, not been good enough, to win those games.
“So that is disappointing, but the spirit we showed is going to make sure this team keeps moving in the right direction. This is a great benchmark game for us.
“We have got a lot of good young players coming through and some of the older guys are starting to play some really good rugby again, so we are going to have a good blend going through to the World Cup.”
