RFU stand by Eddie Jones after review as Six Nations failure was 'part of the journey' to winning the Rugby World Cup

The Rugby Football Union is not concerned with England’s dismal showing in the recent Six Nations after insisting that the fifth-place finish is “part of the journey” towards winning the Rugby World Cup next year, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Having completed the review into England’s worst finish in the tournament in 31 years, RFU chief executive Steve Brown revealed that Jones listed the areas of concern that lead to the three defeats against Scotland, France and Ireland and addressed how they can be rectified ahead of next year’s global gathering in Japan.

Jones conducted a full review into his side’s Six Nations failure last month and presented the findings to the RFU’s board as well as its Professional Game Board [PGB], with both ultimately satisfied that measures are being taken to prevent such a disastrous run of results happening next year when it matters most.

“Eddie presented to the board and the PGB his review of the Six Nations and described the things that he felt needed to be improved and changed and his plan going forward,” Brown said. “I took a great deal of confidence from those plans in how we can reignite the success we had until recently and then looking ahead to the 2019 Rugby World Cup. We have a good plan in place and the opportunity to do well in 2019.

“I won’t go into all the details of that, but he [Jones] looked at a range of options and looked back at some history as well. It was a sensible evaluation of practical-on-the-pitch-type things that you’d expect and it’s part of the journey of getting ready for the World Cup. I won’t go into the details of it, some of it is quite sensitive in a way but he’s definitely analysed it fully as you’d expect him to do and that’s been well tested with both the board and the Professional Game Board.”

He added: “Eddie is preparing for the Barbarians in May and then for the South Africa tour. It's a big ask going to South Africa, it's a very big challenge but we're looking forward to that.”

One player who looks set to feature on that tour against the Springboks in June is the current Wellington Hurricanes captain Brad Shields, who will join Wasps once the Super Rugby season comes to an end in August.

The New Zealand-born flanker qualifies to play for England through his parents, and Jones looks set to call him up to the squad in light of his decision to move to the Premiership that meets the RFU’s policy of only selecting players from home clubs.

However, the move has caused issues among the New Zealand Rugby Union [NZRU], with chief executive Steve Tew initially claiming that they will look to block any call-up this summer given that Shields is still contracted to the Hurricanes, before easing his stance on the matter the following day.

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Shields has been tipped to represent the All Blacks after rising through the ranks in New Zealand, but after missing out numerous times on selection for the senior squad, Shields is set to turn his back on Steve Hansen’s side and pledge his allegiance to England. Despite the dispute, Brown is confident that Shields will have to be released for England duty if needed under World Rugby’s Regulation Nine, which addresses the Right to Release for Matches rules.

“It’s a hypothetical situation as it stands at the moment,” Brown noted, with Jones due to name his squad for the summer tour of South Africa on 10 May, “but clearly you guys probably understand as well as I do of the Regulation Nine arrangements, and if we were in a position where Eddie was to select Brad and to require him for the squad, then we would go through the normal process of that.”