Felix Jones plans grand farewell before England move

“Hard question,” Jones said, gathering himself. “I don’t think I could sum it up. I could just say that I am really grateful. I have a lot of gratitude to not only the management but the players as well and the people behind the scenes. The greater rugby community in South Africa, the franchises, the coaches there. It’s been incredible.”

Jones is much more comfortable analysing or coaching than talking in press conferences, so his almost imperceptible show of emotion came as a surprise.

He has often avoided the limelight, interviews and talking about himself. He has never been the most forthcoming media personality ― once successfully suing two Irish newspapers that reported he had been sacked by Munster when in fact he had left of his own accord ― however, Jones is a fascinating figure with an interesting story.

He has packed a lot into his 36 years. Born in Dublin, he is the great-grandson of the renowned Irish architect Alfred Edwin Jones, who was also a fine Egyptologist and French colonial stamp collector in the early 1900s.

Jones’s rugby career was ultimately unfulfilled, and pock-marked by injuries. He played for a year at Leinster before making the rare switch to Munster in 2009, where he stayed until he had to retire in 2015 because of a neck issue.

Jones represented Ireland 13 times before injury curtailed his playing career in 2015

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In that time he won 13 Ireland caps and was a part of the wider squad that won the 2015 Six Nations but he missed the 2011 World Cup through injury and did not make the squad in 2015.

While he was in Munster’s back three Jones was in an acoustic folk rock band with Barry Murphy, the centre, called Hermitage Green, in which he played a type of Irish drum called the bodhrán in Limerick’s pubs.

It was after he retired that his career really started singing. Munster kept him on as coach for the 2016-17 season; he helped them to the semi-finals of the Champions Cup and final of the Pro 12.

Joe Schmidt ― the former Ireland head coach who is now an assistant with the All Blacks ― asked him to help to coach Ireland on a summer tour to Japan in 2017. Then when Erasmus took the South Africa job, one of his first big appointments was Jones ― a man for the minutiae.

Jones’s role has shifted since then. Initially Jones did his job from the UK and Ireland, used as a coaching and pastoral liaison for the Springbok players who were at British, Irish and French clubs. Then he ran the attack, during the 2021 British & Irish Lions series, which South Africa won 2-1, and now looks after their defence.

He is adored by his Springbok players, who are sad to be losing him. “He’s an unbelievable coach,” Willie le Roux, the full back, said. “It’s a privilege to work with him. The Springboks are really going to miss him. I’m just fortunate to have worked with him.”

Smith has saluted Jones for his influence, saying: “All of us as Springboks are better players because of him.”

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The South Africa players marvel at the details Jones notices. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without his laptop,” Le Roux said. “He helps us with our attack, our strike moves with the backs. If I pass to one side I tend to fall away, and the pass looks forward, so [he told me] it’s about running forward and continuing to move forward.”

Kwagga Smith, the back-rower, added: “He also says about catching that you can give yourself a bit more time on the ball. He has helped us on that ― catch early and give yourself half a second more time on the ball to make a decision. All of us as Springboks are better players because of him.”

Jones’s perception of adopted new countrymen has changed over the years ― particularly around how they ingrain their strengths through coaching.

The reductive view is that it must be easy to coach massive South Africans to be physical, but Jones has seen there is more to it than that. “Collision-winning is actually a skill, and I think sometimes that can be considered as it’s just people hitting things but actually there is a huge amount that goes into winning a collision,” he explained.

“I use this analogy when I had my [two] boys in South Africa. They were playing rugby in South Africa and from a young age learning how to tackle by hitting a shield and sausage bags back in Ireland, and there’s still a big focus on skill development and identification of space.

“Obviously you also do that in South Africa, and in Ireland and the northern hemisphere you hit shields and stuff, but I think even from a young age there people start gathering skill sets early and I think you have to consider it as a skill.”

Jones is moving to England to be closer to his family, having found juggling working in South Africa and Europe difficult. He lived in South Africa for six months, during the Covid lockdown and Lions series, where his sons attended a school in Paarl, near Cape Town.

At this World Cup he has been right in the thick of the action in the coaching box ― from using traffic lights to communicate decisions, to being part of the “war council” discussion with Erasmus and co during the England semi-final win, which led to the decision to replace the half backs, Manie Libbok and Cobus Reinach, early in the match to turn the tide in South Africa’s favour.

Jones is a process-driven man ― no wonder Borthwick recruited him ― but did allow himself to reflect before the final. His pride in his work comes from the bonds he has built with his team.

“There’s been many games where we’ve lost via the last kick of the game or in the dying minutes, but I’ve never seen us giving up,” he said. “Off field, there are so many challenges in general in South Africa but for the guys it just makes them tighter.”

It is that admiration he has for his players and fellow coaches that explains the dampness in Jones’s eyes this week.