Japan coach and soon to be Stormers Super Rugby coach Eddie Jones has said that he is open to an approach from the RFU in England about replacing their head coach Stuart Lancaster.
Jones has already handed in his resignation with Japan and the Japan Super Rugby side now known as the “Sunwolves” and agreed to join Western Province in Cape Town South Africa and coach the Stormers.
The former Wallabies coach is the man that led Japan to a stunning Rugby World Cup victory over South Africa’s Springboks and has received praise all round for the way Japan have improved since the last world cup.
For South African rugby fans the silver lining in the Springbok’s loss to Japan was that Jones would soon be heading to their shores and he was an assistant coach when South Africa won the World Cup in France in 2007
While Jones said that he feels that the incumbent England coach Stuart Lancaster deserves a fair review the idea of becoming England’s first foreign coach was appealing even though he only signed with the Stormers two weeks ago.
“If England approached me, would I listen to them? Of course I would but whether the RFU part ways with Stuart Lancaster is a big and difficult decision,” said Jones in a Daily Mail column.
“A proper review is needed to find out why they changed strategy halfway through the tournament.
“A lot of time has been invested in to Lancaster and his squad have enormous potential, so he needs to convince the board that he can take those youngsters forward to 2019.”
Jones said that Lancaster was wrong to drop fly-half George Ford for Owen Farrell in England’s second match of the world cup against Wales.
“(Lancaster) must show … that he will learn from his mistakes and, if he can’t do that, I think he should go,” Jones added.
“There will be a lot of contenders queuing up for his job, but it’s a case of deciding what they want and then finding that person.”
Jones offered a number of names that he thought would be ahead of him in the pecking order such as Jim Mallinder and then added he thought that if 2003 World Cup winner Sir Clive Woodward had a supervisory role over him they would make an intriguing duo.
“A double act between Clive and myself would be interesting,” he said.
“It’s not the sort of job I’ll go out chasing but I’d certainly chat to them if they thought I was the right man for the role.”
In other news the English media have listed former Wallabies and Crusaders Super Rugby coach Robbie Deans as a possible candidate.
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