Irish coach Felix Jones has continued his impressive movement through the world of rugby, with the Six Nations marking his first duties as an assistant coach with England.
Jones took over as defence coach ahead of the tournament, having spent the last four years as a member of Rassie Erasmus' coaching team in South Africa.
The ex-Munster man enjoyed terrific success during his time with the Springboks, with a series victory over the British and Irish Lions sandwiched by successive World Cup victories in 2019 and 2023.
However, the first display of Jones' defensive work with the England team on Saturday afternoon was not convincing. Italy were able to stroll through the English defence at points during the first half, and ultimately finished just three points behind after scoring three tries.
It was a worrying start for Jones and England - but two South Africa legends fear that Jones may be placed in the wrong position on the coaching team.
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Irish rugby: Schalk Burger fears England are wasting Felix Jones
23 September 2023; South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, right, and South Africa assistant coach Felix Jones before the 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool B match between South Africa and Ireland at Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
2004 World Rugby Player of the Year Schalk Burger appeared alongside Jean de Villiers on RugbyPass' 'Boks Office' podcast this week, and shared their thoughts on the opening weekend of Six Nations action.
Both Burger and de Villiers were part of South Africa's 2007 Rugby World Cup winning team. De Villiers also spent a season playing alongside Jones with Munster in 2009-10.
Speaking on Irish coach Felix Jones when assessing the defensive performance of England against Italy, Schalk Burger shared his fear that Jones' rugby nous was better suited to a role dealing with attack, and that head coach Steve Borthwick may have him in the wrong spot:
If you're Steve Borthwick, go last year: we know they're going to go back to basics, mechanical stuff.
Last year, they played to their strengths, had the best defence at the World Cup, best kicking game at the World Cup.
This year, we all know Felix Jones is going across there. Maybe I was not in the loop but I thought, 'what a great job did he do with our Springbok attack from 2018 to 2023?' We all have massive respect for Felix, his work ethic, how he coaches the attack.
All of a sudden, he pops up on screen as the defence coach, and he's copying a "Bok-style" of defence. You look at the highlights...there's a lot of work [to do] in that defensive system.
De Villiers echoed Burger's concerns and said he could not understand the push from England to employ Jones if they were not going to utilise him in the area in which he excelled during his time with South Africa.
It begs the question...England start anew this year, they see what Felix has done with the Boks, you employ him - but you employ him for something totally different.
On what basis do you get a guy like that if he's going to fulfil a role that you haven't seen him in? Or is it based on what he did when he was still at Munster? It's a weird one.
Even during his time at Munster, Jones gradually settled into a role mainly focused on coaching the attacking setup.
Both Burger and de Villiers were full of praise for Jones' work ethic and had little doubt he would be able to figure out a solution to England's problems, but the evidence from the first weekend of the Six Nations suggests that it could be a while before those improvements are visible.
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