Eddie Jones: How England’s combative opposition lost its vital edge

The departed England head coach will be remembered as a combative contradiction: one moment full of gall and venom, the next a gleaming co-conspirator.

The wily Australian has always known how to bite a sound bite, regularly baring his teeth to fellow coaches, players and the media.

His ruthless management style had colleagues fielding calls at 4am with Jones stunned at best by a lame answer.

That punitive regime led to England having 18 assistant coaches in his seven-year tenure. An unprecedented attrition that Jones championed as a launching pad for those assistants’ aspirations as head coach, the churn rate also raised concerns about general burnout.

Jones was just as willing to ask a question at a press conference as he was to call out fans in stadiums for abusing him. Yelling “come here and say that” when labeled a “traitor” by Australian supporters during the summer’s Wallabies tour sums up Jones’ front-foot approach.

The 62-year-old kept his players sharp in a brutal testing environment, an approach that spurred many but also failed to bring out the best in a group of promising stars.

However, for most of his reign, all those contradictions and mixed messages came together to make England a team drilled in his image.

Jones’ England were always at their best as unashamed agitators, controlling their fury into a bullish power play.

However, this all fell away in the final months of Jones’ regime, as the focus drifted just too far to the World Cup. The emphasis on expanding the attack saw England lose control of their tight game.

The England players praised another relaxed test camp and enjoyed the set-up more than ever before. However, as the tension eased, perhaps Jones’ vital lead just softened too much.

Perhaps only Jones could be sacked with a winning record of 73 per cent, having pushed England to the brink of World Cup glory in 2019. A character of conflict to the end.