REPORT: Eddie lands new gig in USA
NEWS: England coach Eddie Jones has reportedly taken on a second club team consultancy, adding MLR side San Diego Legion to his commitments with Suntory Sungoliath, the Japanese Top League outfit.
Co-coached by former Scotland lock Scott Murray and retired USA 7s star Zack Test, Legion recruited former England captain Chris Robshaw to their roster for the 2021 and 2022 seasons earlier this year.
Now, England coach Jones is also on their roster – despite being contracted with the RFU through to the end of the next World Cup in France in 2023.
It was only after he has already started working with Suntory that his initial consultancy emerged, but his link with the young American club been made public in advance.
According to the BBC, it’s a new partnership the RFU have been in the loop over, stating they were “fully consulted from the outset” and that the Australian’s new role was “not in conflict with RFU commitments in any way”.
The Guardian have now shed further light on what Jones will be doing with the Americans, Darren Gardner, one of their co-owners, saying: “Obviously England remains Eddie’s priority, but he will be having input into our systems and processes that we have built.
“He is going to spend some time in the US where he will get to interact with the coaches and the players and, from a community perspective, help us with some development of our academy and the things we are doing there.
“Being able to have him with that sort of oversight and mentoring, guidance roles for coaches, and also from a systems development viewpoint, an academy and junior development point of view fits in with what we are trying to do with both Legion and US rugby more generally.
“Everybody would like the US to have a World Cup and if we are going to do that we need to be developing the talent coming through. We have made the systems and processes and the organisational structure is in place.”
It was last March when the 2020 MLR season was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new season is set to start in February 2021.
Jones and his England coaching staff, meanwhile spent the early part of last week coaching at Championship club Ealing to get their eye back in following the lockdown.
Rugbypass
