Back backs Jones

Decorated former England flanker Neil Back has come out in support of struggling England head coach Eddie Jones.

Jones has been under fire recently against the backdrop of a disappointing England campaign which saw them finish fifth overall after winning the title in 2020.

Back, however, still believes Jones (who still has a win ratio of 77%) is the right man for the England job.

"Eddie's a good coach and his record speaks for itself, so I wouldn't get rid of him. There's a lot of pressure on him, but that will make him even better," Back told the PA news agency.

"We've been here before under Eddie in 2018. Eighteen months later, we probably played the best any England team has played in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. We then got to the final.

"Eddie's success rate, on paper, is better than any other England manager. He'll look back on this Championship brutally to see where he and the squad could have done things differently.

"Painful lessons are sometimes very valuable going forward and finishing fifth was massively disappointing.

"He failed to read how the Saracens players who didn't have a lot of game time would perform. He thought they'd be successful, but he was wrong and will learn from that.

"Undoubtedly there will be changes in players. He'll bring some new players in to freshen things up."

Jones’ fate will, reportedly, be decided next week after RFU Chief Executive Bill Sweeney will head a debrief involving Jones and a selected panel where the season will be dissected and plans made going forward.