Robertson & Borthwick contenders for England job with Jones tipped to go

Champion Crusaders coach and rebuffed All Blacks aspirant Scott Robertson could be one step closer to achieving his ambition of coaching internationally after reports that England coach Eddie Jones is likely to exit his role overnight.

Jones’ exit has been tipped in media in England and Australia and would bring to an end a seven-year stretch in one of the highest-profile — and highest-paid — roles in world rugby.

“He will go down in history as the most successful England coach in regards to wins and losses, with a 73 per cent win rate, a World Cup runner’s-up medal, two Six Nations titles and one grand slam,” noted rugby writer Georgina Robinson in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The split would come just nine months before the start of the Rugby World Cup in France.

Jones’ former assistant Steve Borthwick has been considered a leading prospect to replace him after next year’s Rugby World Cup.

The Daily Mail suggested Robertson was also a strong chance.

“The RFU must not hear a Kiwi accent and just assume the speaker is a rugby visionary, but Robertson has plenty of success on his CV and those who have worked with him acclaim his attributes as a man manager and tactician with a typical New Zealander’s oval-ball positivity. English rugby needs some of that.”

Writing in Britain’s Times, rugby commentator Stuart paid tribute to Kiwi coaching guru Wayne Smith — whose praises he has sung in the past.

“When Dan Carter was in his pomp, New Zealand had Wayne Smith — not to tell him what to do and when, but to pose a few questions, keep that rugby intelligence honed.”

The Sydney Morning Herald suggested Rugby Australia would be interested in the six-time title-winning Crusaders coach Robertson if he was still on the market after the World Cup, suggesting his two-decade-old friendship with Rugby Australia powerbroker Daniel Herbert could be a factor.

“It is a little-known fact that Herbert and Robertson are good friends. They met at French club Perpignan in 2003. They had played each other a number of times in Super Rugby – Herbert for Queensland and Robertson for Canterbury – but it was in southern France that a friendship flourished. It remains strong to this day.”

Coaching the Wallabies would bring the opportunity of running the home team in both the Lions tour in 2025 and the Rugby World Cup in 2027.

Writing in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, former England hooker Brian Moore doubted the review panel deciding Jones’ fate. “If you want to dance to the ever-diminishing attention spans of today, then more fool you.”

He went on to say: “You should not sack someone without a suitable replacement and that means they must be suitably qualified, available and want to do the job — not just the next person of whom you can think.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission