Jones puts cricket dream on hold, eyes fresh tilt at World Cup glory

Eddie Jones has said his ambition of watching cricket in the Caribbean will have to wait after he signed up for a fresh crack at winning the World Cup with England.

When he became England coach after the 2015 World Cup, the Australian, a lifelong cricket fan, said he planned to be watching cricket in the West Indies when his initial four-year deal was up.

But having first extended until 2021, it was announced Thursday the 60-year-old has committed himself to taking England all the way to the 2023 World Cup in France.

Asked what had happened to his dream of watching from the boundary edge in the West Indies, Jones said in a conference call from Japan: “That is going to have wait a bit, mate.”

Jones, Australia’s coach when they lost to England in the 2003 World Cup final, was 80 minutes away from seeing his current side lift the trophy in Japan last year after a thrilling semi-final defeat of New Zealand, only for England to be overwhelmed by a rampant South Africa in the final.

The often outspoken Jones said England had to win the World Cup to be considered a great side.

“We want to become one of those teams where people remember how you play for a period of time, that’s the ache I have as a coach,” he explained.

“The test of greatness is to do it consistently. With that comes results. If we’re the greatest team then a World Cup medal is probably sitting in front of us. Our goal hasn’t changed at all from what I stated at the start of this cycle and it will continue to be the same. I want a team that plays the perfect game of rugby and I want a team that can be remembered as a great team.”

Pay cut a small sacrifice

Meanwhile, Jones says agreeing to a pay cut during the coronavirus shutdown was an easy decision to make because safeguarding English rugby’s future is the priority.

Jones accepted a salary deduction of over 25% to help ease the financial burden on the Rugby Football Union (RFU), which is set to lose up to £50 million ($61.89 million) over the next 18 months.

Jones, who signed a new England contract until the 2023 World Cup on Thursday, told reporters on a teleconference call the RFU’s executive team set the tone by immediately agreeing to the pay reduction proposal.

“I was really pleased with how decisive they were and it was easy to make a decision to follow that,” said the Australian.

“It’s a small thing that you do personally to ensure that we can get through the next period of time and part of that is taking that salary cut.”

With the exception of the Premiership, the RFU has confirmed the end of the 2019-20 season for the second-tier Championship, women’s Premier 15s and the community game due to the pandemic.

Despite facing the heavy losses, the RFU said it would provide a £7 million ($8.3 million) relief package to community clubs.

Jones said both amateur and professional clubs would suffer financially during the period.

“So we’ve got to make sure that whatever form rugby takes post-coronavirus it’s in a stronger state than it was previously,” he added.

Agencies