Eddie Jones’ England to be given ‘brutally honest’ performance review, RFU says

England finished the Six Nations in fifth place after defeats to Scotland, Wales and Ireland

England head coach Eddie Jones (Getty Images)

England’s dismal Six Nations and the performance of head coach Eddie Jones will be subject to a “brutally honest analysis”, according to the Rugby Football Union.

The second fifth-place finish of the Jones era has placed the Australian’s position under intense scrutiny, with the post-Championship debrief process finishing in mid-April.

“It needs to be a thorough, brutally honest analysis of what went wrong and why and what the issues are,” RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said.

Losses to Scotland, Wales and Ireland condemned England to their worst Six Nations performance on the grounds of points difference and equalled the fifth-place finish of 2018.

Owen Farrell’s side entered the tournament as champions after compiling an eight-Test winning run, but over the last two months they have looked a shadow of the team that reached the final of the 2019 World Cup final.

“We certainly don’t want it to be an opportunity to wallow in excuses,” said Sweeney, who will head up a review panel consisting of established figures from within the game.

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“It has been an unusual year and I could reel off a whole list to you - we had to deal with this, we had to deal with that.

“But we don’t want to dwell on that, we want to look at the more fundamental issues. How does this impact our thinking to go through to 2023?”

PA