Victorious England chief Eddie Jones said yesterday he was “completely unavailable” to coach the British and Irish Lions next year on their tour of New Zealand.
Fresh from the Six Nations champions series-clinching 23-7 win over the Wallabies in Melbourne there have been renewed calls for him to become the first Australian to take charge of the Lions.
But Jones, the first foreigner to coach England, emphatically ruled out being at the helm against the All Blacks.
“I signed a four-year contract to make England the best team in the world and I’m going to spend every minute I have doing that,” he told reporters after England secured an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three series against Australia. “If I took the Lions job I’d have to spend anything from six to 12 months not doing that.”
Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie said he had advised the Lions’ committee that Jones would be concentrating on England. “Eddie does not want to do it and we want him to stay to coach England,” Ritchie told reporters following the Melbourne Test.
“Both us of feel that, between now and 2019, Eddie’s focus is on the World Cup and nothing will change that.”
Jones said he believed England would be represented by “at least” 15 players when the Lions select their squad next year for a series that clashes with England’s scheduled tour of Argentina in June.
“I’d be hopeful of missing at least 15,” he said. “If we can get 15 in the Lions squad we’ll have had a good Six Nations and good November Tests.”
Jones added that he expected team changes as England go after a 3-0 series clean-sweep against Australia in Sydney on Saturday, with openside flanker James Haskell struggling with a sore foot and winger Jack Nowell undergoing concussion protocols.
“There’ll be a few changes,” he said. “When I looked at the team on Saturday there were some guys there with only 80 minutes in them. They’ve been up since June last year and some are starting to show some signs of battle weariness.”
Hansen says Cheika has let Jones ‘bully’ him
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has advised Michael Cheika to stop letting Eddie Jones “bully” him as the Wallabies leader looks to avoid a series whitewash against England this weekend.
The normally feisty Cheika has so far avoided trading barbs with his compatriot Jones, a former teammate of the Australian coach at Sydney’s Randwick Rugby club.
Hansen said it had been “interesting” watching Cheika’s demeanour in the lead-up to the two Test losses in Brisbane and Melbourne which handed England an unprecedented series win in Australia.
“Cheika’s not come back, he’s let Eddie have a free rein to the point where it seems like he’s actually allowed Eddie to bully him in the media,” Hansen said in comments reported by Fairfax New Zealand.
“I don’t know if that’s because they know each other that well, that there’s a pecking order from old days. I don’t know. But that’s gone onto the park, hasn’t it?”
Cheika’s men have plummeted in form since their stunning run to last year’s World Cup final and must regroup in Sydney to avoid finishing the England series with a 3-0 defeat.
Jones said after England’s 23-7 second Test win in Melbourne that he wanted a whitewash but it did not reflect his personal feelings toward Cheika.
“I want to see him do well, I like the bloke, but I don’t want to see him do well against us,” he said.
“So as soon as we beat him 3-0, they can win every Test.”
