Felix Jones is the man on many people's lips in the rugby coaching world right now.
The former Munster fullback shocked a lot of people when it was reported that he was resigning from his role as England's Assistant Coach, citing and "unstable" working environment under head coach Steve Borthwick.
Jones had only joined the England coaching ticket earlier this year after winning his second World Cup with South Africa in 2023 and while England had a slow start to their 2024 Six Nations campaign, by the end of it and on their summer tour to New Zealand they showed signs of being a tough team to beat.
England were unfortunate to not win either of their tour matches in New Zealand and look to have come a long way since their turgid World Cup campaign a year ago. Despite reaching the semifinals and nearly beating the Springboks in that semi, England now look a way stronger team and a lot of the thanks has to go to Felix Jones.
Since joining the Springboks coaching team in 2019 Jones has been lauded as a defensive guru and has been credited along with Jacques Nienaber for he Springboks' high intensity, highly physical defence which has been the catalyst to their two World Cup wins.
Jones has also been credited for his dedication to the role and the amount of research he does into the opposition and that was on display in this clip that has emerged from Chasing The Sun 2 where Jones leads a coaches' meeting.
The former Ireland International explains that he had gone down a YouTube rabbit hole watching France's clips from training and he breaks down the French ruck plan as well as their "noir" call which has been used to great effect over the past few years.
Building a winning strategy from a YouTube video 🤯
Watch how the Boks prepared for their intense #RWC2023 matchup against France in #ChasingTheSun2, free on RugbyPass TV 📺 pic.twitter.com/P5ig620jqG
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) September 19, 2024
The Springboks would go on to beat hosts France in the quarterfinals of the World Cup on their way to completing back-to-back wins.
The level of detail Felix Jones' shows in this clip is why many countries are trying to sway him to their federation. His shock resignation from England came as a surprise to nearly everyone but he will remain with England as he's under a 12-month notice period.
As long as he's still in the role England will be a tough team to beat and are still one of the favourites for next year's Six Nations. However after he departs, a return home to Ireland might be on the cards.
