sport news MARTIN SAMUEL: It's been downhill all the way for Eddie Jones since the 2019 ... trends now
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Yokohama Stadium, November 2, 2019. That was the day it all began to go wrong for Eddie Jones, that was the day he set out on the road that led to here.
In the immediate aftermath of England’s World Cup final defeat by South Africa, the man with the fast mouth and all the answers appeared suddenly clueless. He spilled cliches, off pat old hat wisdom that made England’s dismal, inconsistent performance even harder to comprehend.
And it really has been downhill all the way from there. Downhill all the way from the semi-final dismantling of the All Blacks, to be fair, given that was the apex of England under Jones and a point when the RFU’s gamble on appointing a gun-for-hire coach looked set to pay off.
Eddie Jones with the England players following the World Cup final defeat in 2019
Just seven days later, England fell short, but it wasn’t just the team who disappointed that day. Jones’s reaction — albeit in the immediate aftermath when the pain would have been at its most raw — cut to the dark reality of the super-coach. That there really are no guarantees. Pep Guardiola, Jones, Fabio Capello, sometimes they stand there looking daft, as confused as any layman.
Jones said it took him four years to get over Australia’s defeat in the 2003 World Cup final and it looks as if the same was true second time around. He has never had that air of certainty since;
