Eddie Jones signs new two-year England contract extension to increase stay beyond 2019 Rugby World Cup

Eddie Jones has agreed a new contract extension to remain England head coach until 2021, with a break clause included that will see him evaluated on the side's performance at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The announcement goes against what Jones has insisted since becoming England coach in 2015, with the Australian originally planning to leave his role after Japan 2019 regardless of their performance.

Instead, the Rugby Football Union will seek to identify Jones’ eventual successor by the end of the 2019/2020 season, with the chosen candidate then working with Jones until the end of his contract in a transitional period to help smooth over the change.

“Coaching England is a dream job for me, and I was delighted to be asked to stay on after Rugby World Cup 2019,” said Jones.

“I have been completely focussed on developing a team capable of being the number one rugby team in the world and winning the World Cup in 2019. I never take my role as England head coach for granted and did not presume I would be asked to stay on, but, once the conversations started very recently, it was not a difficult decision to make.

“These are exciting times for English rugby, with a focussed and committed squad who are full of potential and determined to win. I will continue to work as hard as I can to make England the world’s best rugby team.”

Having seen the appointment of new coaches become a long and messy – and at times expensive – process when replacing the likes of Sir Clive Woodward, Brian Ashton, Martin Johnson and Stuart Lancaster over the last 15 years, the RFU are in favour of finding a new model that can help bring about change with the least disruption possible.

Having guided England to consecutive Six Nations championship victories, a first Grand Slam for 13 years in 2016 and 100 per cent records on tours of Australia and Argentina, RFU chief executive Steve Brown spoke glowingly of the current coach and suggested that his was a model that could be used further down the line when appointing new coaching teams.

“Eddie’s results as England head coach speak for themselves,” said Brown. “Under Eddie’s leadership, we have risen from eighth to second in the world – and Eddie won’t be satisfied until we are number one.

“He has a 95 per cent win rate at the helm, and has been a galvanizing force for the RFU, bringing focus, clarity and extraordinary commitment to the role.

“We now have a robust succession planning process in place which will avoid the historically disruptive pattern of resetting the coaching team and performance system every four years. Eddie will be a big part of this process, and wants to ensure a smooth handover to his successor.”