Defiant Jones confident of upturn in England fortunes

Eddie Jones said he does not need talks with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and is excited about what England can achieve despite a dismal run of five Test defeats in a row.

The RFU gave head coach Jones their backing after an ill-disciplined England squandered a 12-0 lead to lose the second Test – and the series – 23-12 against South Africa in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Jones has come in for criticism after three consecutive Six Nations defeats were followed by two against the Springboks, also losing to the Barbarians before embarking for their tour.

The defiant Australian is confident the tide will turn with the World Cup to come in Japan next year.

“I don’t need any dialogue with the RFU,” Jones told Sky Sports News. “All I need to do is my job and I do my job as well as I can every day.

“I love the team. I love coaching the team. I’m excited about where we’re going to go.

“I realise this is a tough time and that our fans and supporters will be disappointed but all I can assure you is we’re doing everything we can, every minute of the day, to turn this team around.”

Jones said England’s slump is nothing new to him and he expected it after such a dream start to his tenure.

He added: “I’ve been in many of these [situations] and I knew it was always going to come for England.

“You’re always going to have a difficult run. Every team I’ve been in that’s been successful, we’ve had a difficult run like this.

“Sometimes you need these periods to learn from, to cement those errors as things you don’t want to do again. We’re getting some hard lessons at the moment.”

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