Eddie Jones is expected to step down after the 2023 Rugby World Cup as England coach.
However, there are questions whether the Australian will last that long.
Appointed back in November 2015 on a four-year deal, in his first year he delivered the first Grand Slam in 13 years, and followed that up with a victorious tour of Australia. The culmination of that period came at the 2019 World Cup finals in Japan, where Jones steered the side to the final, meeting the mighty All-Blacks in the process only to suffer a disappointing defeat to South Africa.
On the strength of that, the RFU (Rugby Football Union) offered Jones a contract extension, but it would be fair to say that the second half of his reign has been less successful than the first, and following two consecutive poor Six Nations campaigns, there have been post-competition reviews.
Already a number of names have been bandied around as potential successors, and those wanting to lay a bet on who it might be could consider this well-known sports betting operator – see this Mr Green Ireland review.
Already, though, the field of potential candidates might be limited by the fact that Bill Sweeney, the RFU CEO and Director of Performance Rugby, Conor O'Shea, want the next coach of the national team to be English.
There is also a preference for them to be brought into the set-up early, so that they could work alongside Jones for a while and shadow Jones before his departure.
At this stage there appear to be a number of contenders.
Rob Baxter is director of rugby at Exeter Chiefs, who has helped guide the Devon club from the Championship to European Champions in the space of a decade. One concern about his candidacy is that the Chiefs are all he has ever known, having played and captained them, before moving into coaching.
Steve Borthwick already knows the England set-up having worked under Jones as a forward coach for five years. The former England international is currently in his first heading coaching role with the Leicester Tigers, but has already intimated that if England came calling it would be hard to turn them down.
Andy Farrell is perhaps an ideal choice if he were available. The father of the current England captain Owen, he was England's defence coach under Stuart Lancaster between 2011 and 2015, but left under a cloud after the country's poor showing at the 2015 World Cup.
However, his career has since been rehabilitated by Ireland, first as defence coach and then, with the departure of Joe Schmidt, he was elevated to the head coach position.
He led them to the Triple Crown earlier this year, and is highly regarded by the IRFU, so it may be expecting too much to expect him to give all that up to work with the English team again.
Another former England player Richard Cockerill is also in the frame. He is the current England's forward coach and has acquired 17 years; coaching experience since retiring from laying.
One potential black mark against him , though, is that his England career as a player ended after criticising Clive Woodward, the man who led the country to World Cup success in 2003, in a book.
Pingback: tubulatura ventilatie industriala