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27th October 2023
03:37pm BST
South Africa assistant coach Felix Jones (Credit: Getty Images)
In an unlikely turn of events, Felix Jones received a phone call many could only ever dream of; the opportunity to help coach the Springboks. He went on to help South Africa to a third World Cup title in Japan in November 2019, beating England in the final in Yokohama. In the weeks that followed, Felix Jones spoke on House of Rugby about Japan and that life-changing phone call from head coach Rassie Erasmus. "I met the [squad] in Japan, about a week or so after, then was straight in the following day, in training then in presenting the next day and saying, 'This is how we stop Japan'." You can remind yourself of that conversation in 2019 [from 26:30 below] here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=k-Fj1Z52JS0
South Africa narrowly beat England in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Paris (Credit: Getty Images)
"I think initially when I first came in there was a lot of familiarity with how things had been done because it was Rassie [Erasmus], Jacques [Nienaber] and Aled Walters at the time. It was quite a quick transition and there were a lot of similarities. I think they were expecting me to do similar things as I was doing in Munster when we were all together. Slotting in was very straight forward and from there because it has been over four years now I think it's naturally taking on other responsibilities. "Trying to figure out what is actually going to make the team operate better. I'd say it is more organic the way things have done and you're always trying to improve things." "There are certain parts [of my coaching] that have definitely changed my view. I think before, and I think it's shared by people who have had a similar rugby upbringing in terms of where and how, collision winning is a skill. I think it can be considered as it's just people hitting things but there is a huge amount that goes into winning a collision."Despite enjoying huge success at the Springboks camp, Felix Jones is set to join the England set-up after the World Cup.
"I'm an assistant coach so between myself, Richard (Wigglesworth) and Steve (Borthwick) that will all get sorted out. I'd rather not go into that with a big game at the weekend."Depending on how things go in Paris this weekend, Steve Borthwick could be welcoming a man with two World Cup final victories plus a series victory over the British & Irish Lions in 2021 on his CV.
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