Eddie Jones points finger at RFU for England struggles ahead of Rugby World Cup - ‘The system’s not right’

Australia head coach Eddie Jones says the Rugby Football Union (RFU) is to blame for England's struggles in recent years.

Former England boss Jones was sacked in December after a poor run of form, but things haven't improved under his successor Steve Borthwick.

England finished fourth in the 2023 Six Nations and lost three of their four World Cup warm-up games, including a first-ever defeat to Fiji at Twickenham last weekend.

Jones believes the results on the pitch are a direct consequence of structural failures at the top of English rugby.

"The results of England over the last five years... they're not producing quality players," Jones told the BBC.

"Everyone looks at the head coach, and [says] 'let's blame the head coach'. But the onus on producing quality players is the RFU. And that hasn't happened.

"You've got to look at why you're not bringing talent through, then you've got to look at why your talent development systems are not doing that.

"The system's not right. What needs to change? Where's the gap? That's the responsibility of the RFU."

England’s defeat to Fiji saw them drop below the Pacific Islanders in the world rankings to eighth.

It has left confidence at rock-bottom ahead of their Pool D opener against Argentina in Marseille on September 8.

However, the situation for Australia isn’t much brighter.

Jones, who was appointed Wallabies coach in January, has come in for criticism after his side lost five games in a row this year going into the World Cup.

But he remains optimistic that Australia can make a big impact at the tournament, where they share Pool C with Wales, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal.

"No one thinks we can win, which is a great situation to be in," said Jones.

"If I look at all the teams in the World Cup, most teams are at the end of their cycle.

"Look at the Irish team, a very good team, but a lot of players at the end of their careers. New Zealand are the same [and] South Africa to a larger extent. Those teams, while they can grow, they can't grow as quickly as we can.

"I've got a fair bit of optimism about what we can do. You need things to go right, and you need a bit of luck. But we work hard enough. We'll generate enough good luck and then you don't know where we can go."

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