OPINION: Jones, Pivac axed before World Cup … who’d want to be a coach?

Coaching international rugby at the highest level is a cutthroat business. Just ask Eddie Jones and Wayne Pivac. The head coaches of England and Wales received their marching orders less than a year out from the World Cup over the past week.

It is not often that you see a head coach of a top tier nation fired just months before a World Cup, but after a poor season of results for both teams their national bodies finally reached their breaking point.

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Strangely enough both decisions, although based on results over the entire season, could be due to a single result, with Wales throwing away a 21 point lead to lose to Australia, and England being thumped by the Springboks in their final games of the season two weeks ago.

Had Wales and England won those games there is a good chance that both coaches would have kept their jobs at least until after the World Cup.

The decision to remove Jones and Pivac is a massive gamble from both nation’s rugby unions, and one that could end badly.

For England it seems a knee jerk reaction that will harm their chances at next year’s World Cup, as it is unlikely that a serious coaching contender will be willing to take over what could become a poisoned chalice, especially if they have another poor year in 2023.

Leicester Tigers coach Steve Borthwick and Crusaders coach Scott Robinson have both been heavily linked with the England job in recent times, but would Borthwick be willing to take the risk, while Robinson has likely been offered the All Blacks post after the World Cup.

Swiftly replaced

The decision to get rid of Pivac was probably not as bad a call for the Wales leadership, as they swiftly reappointed former coach Warren Gatland, who knows the system and players, and coached many of them with the British and Irish Lions last year.

Pivac and Jones are not the only coaches that struggled this year on the international stage.

New Zealand’s Ian Foster was probably one loss away from getting the sack and saved his career with a win over the Boks at Ellis Park, while Australia’s Dave Rennie has also been under immense pressure and their win over Wales could have spared him as well.

Bok coach Jacques Nienaber has also been under pressure, mostly from the country’s media, after two seasons of inconsistent results, however the SA Rugby leadership has never indicated that they were considering removing him.