"England 19-7 New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final was the greatest 80 minutes an England rugby team has ever done."
Wednesday 5 February 2020 11:41, UK
Eddie Jones "absolutely deserves" to see out the remaining two years of his England contract, according to Will Greenwood.
In the aftermath of England's 24-17 Six Nations defeat to France in Paris on Sunday - England's first fixture since their 32-12 Rugby World Cup final loss to South Africa - Jones has come in for criticism around his selections and gameplan.
Speaking on Sky Sports News on Wednesday, Greenwood, capped 55 times for England between 1997 and 2004, backed the Australian coach.
"Eddie absolutely deserves the next couple of years - he's got a two-year deal and they're waiting to sort out and see if it'll go through to the next World Cup," Greenwood said.
"He delivered the greatest England performance of all time - we have to say that. The England vs New Zealand game in the semi-final of the World Cup [England 19-7 New Zealand] was the greatest 80 minutes an England rugby team has ever done.
"And what, two games later we want to get rid of him? And when you've got a squad who were the youngest team ever in a World Cup final.
"Look, I think he got some of the selections wrong, the team didn't play well, but I'm not throwing him out with the bathwater after a game."
England face Scotland at Murrayfield in Round 2 of the Six Nations on Saturday - they lost on their last visit to Edinburgh, 25-13 in 2018.
Scotland come into the game off the back of a defeat, 19-12 to Ireland in Dublin, but Gregor Townsend's charges played as well as they have done in a while, with their speed of attack, physicality and scrum at levels not seen before.
"There's massive pressure," Greenwood said of England's clash with Scotland. "But every time England play the Celts they always want to have a dig at us. Historically, we're in there and everyone wants to down England.
"Scotland were awesome [vs Ireland], they played so well. Their front row of Sutherland, Brown and Fagerson dominated Furlong and Healy - a couple of Lions props.
"In the back-row, Hamish Watson is just a little pit-bull! He was awesome. There was no Finn Russell but Adam Hastings was spectacular - he's a proper player.
"They had a real go and the worrying thing for England is that Scotland's scrum-half is a little lad called Price, and they bring on another scrum-half called Horne, who is another little Faf de Klerk replica, which is what Dupont was for France.
"These diminutive little pacy scrum-halves that dart in and around fringes really hurt us [England] in the World Cup final, really hurt us in Paris last week and we've got a carbon copy of it again."
