Felix Jones flashes a cursory smile as he walks into the downstairs room of the team hotel in Toulon with South African media officer Zeena Issacs-Van Tonder. Taking his seat at the top table, the 36-year-old, folded arms on the table and leaning forward, looks tentative. Jones has been rotated to “do media” the week before Ireland meet South Africa in their third Pool B match of the Rugby World Cup.
The suggestion in the room is that this will be the last anyone outside the team sees of him until after Ireland’s meeting with the Springboks in Stade de France. A former Irish player answering questions about coaching against the team he used to play for seems all too personal and, more egregiously, a distraction from the cold science of trying to cut open the Irish defence in Paris.
Before that the Springboks must take on Romania, and the former Irish fullback and wing is working hard to not present South Africa as a team that expects to steamroll the weakest side in the group. Reminded that Ireland put more than 80 points on Romania, Jones is not tempted.
“I think every team has its own way of playing, its own DNA, or style they want to stay true to,” he says. “We won’t be distracted by how other teams go necessarily in terms of scorelines or anything. The bigger thing we will be focusing on will be what was tactically effective that led to opportunities being created or not created.
“You don’t want to fall too much down the trap in terms of looking at an overall scoreline like that. But for sure points difference in this pool could make a considerable difference from the outcome.”
Jones will be leaving South Africa after the World Cup to take up a position with the English Rugby Football Union after more than four years with the Springboks that includes a World Cup win. With the winner’s medal comes a kind of experience that no other Irish coach has, and people are already thinking about a return of Jones and Ronan O’Gara to Ireland further down the road, when the current coaching cycle has been completed.
Swys de Bruin previously held the role of Springbok attack coach but when he resigned in 2019, head coach Rassie Erasmus brought Jones on board, having previously worked with him at Munster.
Jones, who made 13 Test appearances for Ireland, had left the province the same year before falling in with familiar faces on the Springbok ticket, fellow former Munster colleagues Jacques Nienaber and Aled Walters.
After the first round of matches of this World Cup, he is measured and respectful when asked to consider whether South Africa can successfully defend their world title. Spoiler alert, he believes they can.
“I think certainly within our group we have a goal and we have a belief that we can do it, just like New Zealand think they can do it, just like France and Ireland think they can do it and Scotland, Wales, England, Argentina,” he says. “Every team here is here with a goal. We will stay focused on it without trying to lose the run of it or look too far into the distance. The way we can do that is staying match by match and then talk.”
Held in high regard by South Africa, Jones’s move to Twickenham almost certainly crossed the desk of another former Irish fullback, Conor O’Shea, the RFU’s executive director of performance rugby. Erasmus has described the loss of Jones as a blow to the Springboks.
“It’s a big loss for the Springboks to lose a coach of Felix’s calibre,” said Erasmus. “While we are saddened by the decision, we know how difficult it was for him to make that call and we fully understand the reasons. He’s been an asset to the Springboks in the last few years and the way he has evolved in his role and willingly took on additional responsibilities to ensure that the team functioned as optimally as possible in his areas of expertise has been admirable.”
The goodwill and even fondness for the former Seapoint Rugby Club player extends into the backroom team. Jones is not just valued, he is popular with his peers. He also retains a strong bond with Ireland. His World Cup status never prevented him from quietly returning to his roots at the club in Cabinteely.
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“He arrived back and took the under 16s for a full session last season before an important game,” said a Seapoint rugby underage coach. “He’s a modest guy. His only request for that was that parents not take video of the session.”
From the South African viewpoint Jones also brought as much as he is taking with him to London.
“He fitted in really well. His work rate and his work ethic and what he brings has been magnificent,” said a Springbok official who did not wish to be named. “He will be a massive loss when he goes. The RFU are really gaining, and we’ll be sorry to see him go. I understand why he’s going. He has a family that isn’t South African-based ... we’ll all love him forever.
“He’s been brilliant. He’s brought knowledge. It’s been a two-way street for sure. We’ve taken a lot of value from his insights, from his work ethic and how he approaches the game. I’m sure he’s picked up a lot in South Africa, this his second World Cup. He arrived in Japan ... we didn’t meet him until he arrived because he was a very, very late emergency appointment. It’s been really good. England have made a great signing.”
Former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt also saw something sparkle in Jones when he invited him to be a part of Ireland’s tour of Japan in 2017. That was probably the early clue about what talent he had. When asked who is the biggest threat in the pool to South Africa, he replies: “I wouldn’t want to get too dragged into it. I wouldn’t want to say something that’d be latched on to by anyone.” Cautious to the end.
