WHEN HE WAS chatting to Steve Borthwick about potentially joining the England coaching team after this World Cup, Felix Jones had presumably done the kind of detailed homework he is renowned for within the game.
The former Ireland fullback is certainly not someone who courts publicity, instead preferring to stay well clear of the limelight, but he is well known as a clever, studious operator in rugby circles.
So you can imagine the depth he might have gone into as he and Borthwick discussed possible future plans for England. In the end, 36-year-old Jones agreed to join the English set-up as an assistant coach after this World Cup.
It will mean being closer to home more often and it’s clearly an intriguing project for Jones. Whatever work he put into those dealings with Borthwick will also have come in handy this week, with the Springboks facing Jones’ future employers in the World Cup semi-finals on Saturday.
36-year-old Jones is an important figure in the South Africa set-up. He was drafted in at the last minute before the 2019 World Cup and came out of it as the only Irishman with a World Cup winner’s medal.
He initially focused on analysis work but was soon on the pitch helping to coach sessions and working on players’ skills. The Springboks squad were soon raving about Jones and he has remained with the South Africans through until this World Cup, despite his family being at home in Ireland.
The former Munster man’s influence has continued to grow and he is now understood to focus on all strategic aspects of the game along with director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber.
Jones has never been fond of being in the media but he can’t get away from featuring prominently on matchdays. Sitting alongside Nienaber and Erasmus in the coaches’ box, he regularly flashes up on the TV screen. During this World Cup, Jones has been spotted holding up the red light that has attracted so much attention.
It has been fascinating to watch Jones’ development into such a sought-after young coach. Having been forced to retire from playing early due to injury, Jones dipped his toe into coaching with Munster in the 2016/17 season and caught the bug hard.
Having worked with Erasmus and Nienaber in that campaign, Jones then became Munster attack coach under Johann van Graan. But he opted to turn down a contract extension offer from the province in 2019.
It was no great surprise that Erasmus – having already tried once before to lure him to South Africa – soon swept in with a convincing proposal. Jones leapt at the chance to coach at the World Cup and he hasn’t looked back since.
He is now into the final weeks of his time as a Boks coach, with the semi-final pitting them against England. The Boks are gutted to be losing Jones, although they’ve made it clear that they understand the family aspect of his decision. Though Jones’ family were with him in South Africa for around six months during the pandemic, he has had to spend long periods away from them for Boks training camps and competition windows.
In recent years, his role has also involved working with European-based Springboks players in between camps, so there has been a lot of travelling.
English boss Borthwick’s approach has some similarities to South Africa’s so there may be some overlap between the two roles. That said, it will surely be exciting for Jones to try his hand in a new environment with different coaches, players, and plans.
Right now, though, you just know that Jones is doing everything in his power to ensure that the Springboks retain their World Cup title, starting with this weekend’s semi-final.
As the Boks come closer to being without Jones’ skills, director of rugby Erasmus paid effusive tribute to the Dublin man, pointing out that he has already put together a remarkable CV for such a young coach.
“He’s a tremendous person, a workaholic, a guy that sacrificed so much for Munster,” said Erasmus this evening.
“He is a guy who broke his neck at 29, I got him in as a coach at 31, and he coached a year and a half with me at Munster.
“He left his family in Ireland and commuted to every single [Springboks] camp, he had a house there on a golf estate that he hired himself. Him and his family came over, it must have been from the family side a really tough ask on him.
“He and his wife and his two sons are always with us now for the last 18 or 19 weeks because it is a short flight to Ireland and back. And as he said the other day, let’s think about it when it stops, which will be in the next two games, the semi-final and the final or third/fourth place play-off, so let’s give him credit and just say thank you.
“He is the kind of guy who never talks nonsense about other countries, he’s the kind of guy who when we play against Ireland will just talk good things about Ireland, but he will fully back South Africa because he is in our management team.
“And when he moves to England, they have got a massive asset which they are gaining in him and I can just say thank you and congratulations on what he has achieved.
“He has won a British and Irish Lions series, he’s won the World Cup, never mind what he has done as a player, but in a coaching career of only five years that is not too bad.”
And you sense that there is more success to come.