With Jones preparing the Springboks to face England on Saturday, the Telegraph has unearthed what actually happened inside the RFU camp that led to his abrupt resignation in 2024. The picture is of a Steve Borthwick operation that kept coaches strictly compartmentalised — Jones was told to stay in his defensive lane and was explicitly barred from speaking to players outside his designated group. That clashed directly with his philosophy that defence is inseparable from the set-piece and kicking game. Sources also point to a cultural mismatch: Jones, shaped by the Springbok obsession with winning, found England's coaching staff willing to settle for near-misses, and he simply couldn't reconcile that. Aled Walters' departure — the two had been close since their Munster and Bok days together — appears to have been the final trigger. Erasmus's public welcome-back statement, pointedly referencing the Boks' ego-free coaching culture, reads in this context as a barely-veiled dig at Borthwick's setup. England subsequently replaced Jones with a generalist in Joe El-Abd, a Borthwick loyalist, suggesting trust over expertise is now the operating principle at Twickenham.
Borthwick's silo culture drove Felix Jones back to the Boks
Telegraph sources reveal Jones was sidelined within Borthwick's coaching structure, barred from cross-department input and frustrated by a culture that lacked winning ruthlessness — the antithesis of the Springbok environment he'd come from. Walters' exit sealed the decision, and South Africa made clear they wanted him back.
- Springboks
- England
- Rassie Erasmus
Nché injury concern headlining Bok casualty list ahead of Scotland clash at Loftus
Rassie Erasmus is sweating over the fitness of Ox Nché, Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and André Esterhuizen ahead of Saturday's Nations Championship match against Scotland at Loftus, after all four picked up injuries during or before the 45-21 win over England at Ellis Park.
Boks remain top but All Blacks close gap to 2.90 points after Nations Championship opener
South Africa stay top of the World Rugby Men's Rankings at 93.94 points but New Zealand have cut the gap to 2.90 after beating France, while Scotland climb to equal their all-time high of fifth following a record 47-38 win over Argentina in Córdoba.
Smith vows England will 'leave it all out there' against Springboks
Marcus Smith says England's 36-man squad, arriving in Johannesburg on Thursday, are targeting a historic win over the Springboks in the Nations Championship opener, having trained in oxygen masks to prepare for the Highveld.
Erasmus warns Boks: England bring youth, experience and tactical unpredictability to Ellis Park
Rassie Erasmus has praised England's touring squad as young, experienced and tactically unpredictable ahead of the Nations Championship opener at Ellis Park on 4 July, while Siya Kolisi returns as captain for a fixture that marked his first Test captaincy in 2018.
The Ellis Park comeback that launched the Erasmus-Kolisi era
As England head back to Ellis Park in July, this piece revisits the 42-39 comeback win from 2018 that launched the Erasmus-Kolisi era — tracing why that match remains the defining origin point of South Africa's modern rugby dominance.