ONLINE
\nLondon
\nEddie Jones should be given an extended contract as England coach in recognition of his achievements since taking charge, according to Australia counterpart Michael Cheika.
\nJones, appointed after a defeat by his native Australia saw hosts England knocked out of the 2015 World Cup in the pool phase, began life as Red Rose boss in stunning style with 17 consecutive wins — a sequence that included a Grand Slam and a Six Nations title.
\nHis present contract runs to 2021, subject to a break clause related to England\u2019s performances at next year\u2019s World Cup in Japan.
\nBut a run of five successive defeats, spanning this year\u2019s Six Nations and the opening two Tests of the South Africa tour, saw his position called into question.
\nHowever, beating the Wallabies at Twickenham on Saturday would mean England had won three out of their four November internationals, with the lone reverse a one-point loss to world champions New Zealand.
\n\u201cCall me thick, but I can\u2019t understand why he\u2019s been getting grief,\u201d said Cheika of Jones. \u201cHow many games has he won here with England? What about the job he did after the World Cup? Maybe they\u2019re giving him grief because he\u2019s an Aussie.
\n\u201cThe team\u2019s ranked fourth in the world, playing lots of good footy (rugby), so I\u2019m not sure what people are looking for. Perfection? That\u2019s never happening. You win some games, you lose some games.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s definitely won more games than he\u2019s lost so I\u2019d be wrapping him up and signing him up for another four years.\u201d
\nVictory this weekend would give England a perfect played six, won six record against Australia under Jones, but Cheika insisted they got along fine despite the head-to-head mismatch. Cheika, who has known Jones since playing in the same side at Sydney club Randwick, told the press: \u201cThe only people who think we don\u2019t have a good relationship are you chaps
\n\u201cWe\u2019re mates from playing footy together, we\u2019re friends, we\u2019ve got a lot of respect for each other from football days, his daughter works for us (Chelsea Jones is the Wallabies\u2019 team logistics manager), she\u2019s here with us on tour.
\n\u201cSometimes your friends, you\u2019ve got to become enemies, and we will be on Saturday, but there\u2019s no beef (argument) between us.
\n\u201cIf anything when he does well, as long as it\u2019s not against us, I\u2019m very happy for him.\u201d
\nJones was Australia\u2019s coach when they lost the 2003 World Cup final to England courtesy of Jonny Wilkinson\u2019s extra-time drop goal in Sydney.
\n\u201cWhat I will say about 03, Australia came from nowhere and Eddie should be proud of the job he did,\u201d insisted Cheika, in charge when the Wallabies were beaten by the All Blacks in the 2015 final.
\n\u201cHe got us within a couple of seconds of winning the World Cup and it wasn\u2019t expected at all.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to make sure he doesn\u2019t do the same with the other mob (England)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ONLINE London Eddie Jones should be given an extended contract as England coach in recognition of his achievements since taking charge, according to Australia counterpart Michael Cheika. Jones, appointed after a defeat by his native Australia saw hosts England knocked out of the 2015 World Cup in the pool phase, began life as Red Rose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n