2021 Six Nations thread.

As predicted the RFU decided to back Eddie Jones after its review FFS.

LINK

from link wrote:

Eddie Jones has been backed to continue as England head coach following a review into the team's disappointing fifth-place finish in the Six Nations.

Jones' position had been under scrutiny since following by Ireland, Wales and Scotland in the same tournament for the first time in 45 years.

"The debrief was a valuable process, we all learned a lot," Jones said.

"Most importantly, we have identified actions to enable the team to move forward positively towards 2023."

The panel reviewing England's performance consisted of "RFU board members, executives and independent experts", while past and present players - as well as the coaches - also gave their feedback.

The RFU says the overall response from the players was "positive and supportive" and there were a "number of contributing factors" that led to England's poor campaign.

Among them was the absence from the coaching team of Jason Ryles and Neil Craig, who were both unable to travel because of the Covid pandemic. Forwards coach Matt Proudfoot missed the start of the training camp after testing positive for the virus while Jones himself was also forced to self-isolate.

The RFU also admits a number of players - especially those from Saracens - "did not have enough game time going into the Six Nations", while other players were overly-fatigued after back-to-back seasons.

The review also concluded England's stringent coronavirus protocols, which they say were "in some cases greater than other unions", had a detrimental impact on the coaching staff and the cohesion of the players.

The RFU added that several recommendations will be implemented before the July Test matches against the United States and Canada, which are currently under review.

As part of the recommendations, the RFU plans to "deepen its alignment" with England's professional clubs, which will start with a summer conference between the major stakeholders in order "to find common ground and goals for the English game going forward".

There will also be additional refereeing input in a bid to rectify England's alarming ill-discipline, as well as "enhanced sports psychology", a more streamlined use of data, and the counsel of "external rugby experts" to help Jones after each campaign.

"Sport is all about fine margins, which is why every campaign debrief is invaluable in helping us to learn and improve," said RFU boss Bill Sweeney.

"Eddie approached this review with a great deal of self-awareness and humility, allowing us to look at every aspect of the tournament to identify every small change we can make in order to improve."

Jones, who steered England to the World Cup final in 2019, was candid about the below-par results this year.

"During the Six Nations we were not up to our usual high standards and we recognise that," said the Australian.

"I'm looking forward to the summer tour, which will provide a great opportunity to see more of our emerging talent and I'm confident our next team will come back stronger this autumn building up to a winning performance in the next Six Nations."

Whats the better the current and ex players consulted where Saracens players. I see they mentioned picking them despite not playing at all and still not to date but no mention as to why players in form are continually overlooked for them.
RFU are as bent as the 6 european superleague owners in terms of looking after their own at the expense of others but summing that statement up it stinks off we havent got the money to pay him up and eddie wont quit so we are stuck with him till his contract runs out.

What annoys me most to channel my inner groovy why in the feck have we got two austrailan coaches one specializing in rugby league and the other  Aussie rules football neither one of them has even played rugby union or coached it for one and two why have we got them on the coaching staff and they not be living in this country but still based back in Australia!!! that should have been a requirement of the job when they accepted covid is not an excuse as what will be the excuse in the summer when they still cant fly and stay here during the summer tour? RFU could have won me round had they insisted eddie let both of them go and we find a coaching staff that can improve the players.