Is Eddie Jones the Jose Mourinho of rugby? England and Manchester United bosses have similar problems

“The bubble has burst and teams have recognised that the way to beat England is by playing an all-out fast game.”

The defeat followed a disappointing Six Nations campaign where England lost three of their five matches, meaning Jones’ side have now lost four on the trot.

A far cry from the Australian’s start in the job, where England went on a record-equalling run of 18 Test wins in a row.

Woodward did praise the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s match as “some of the best rugby I have ever seen England play”.

But Springbok star Faf de Klerk said the Boks were confident that England would fade – as they did.

“We knew they were going to get a bit tired on the high veldt,” De Klerk said. “England were staying [at sea level] in Durban, and we wanted to take advantage.”

The decision to set-up a base camp in up market Umhlanga just outside Durban, and only travel to match venues the day or so before the game, may prove to be Jones’ undoing – as it was for Woodward when he did the same for the British & Irish Lions on their New Zealand tour in 2003.

The 2005 Lions lost all three Tests comfortably and if England does the same on this tour the clamour for Jones’ exit may grow from a murmur to a dull roar.

An extraordinary situation considering where the Australian was at less than six months ago.

Jones’ problem, like his football counterpart Jose Mourinho, is he has no plan B.

Both men have usually come into under-performing teams and their effect is immediate. They give the side a honeymoon boost and are title contenders by their second season.

Jones won Super Rugby with the Brumbies in 2001, took Australia to the RWC Final in 2003 (beating the All Blacks en route) and England won the Six Nations in his first and second year in charge.  Mourinho won second-year titles with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

But even harder than getting to the top is staying there and both Mourinho and Jones have problems here – almost every coach in history has apart from notables like Bill Shankly and Sir Alex Ferguson, and modern counterparts Bill Belichick (New England Patriots) and Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors).

Mourinho and Jones’ coaching histories follow a similar pattern: promising start in season one, title glory in season two and stagnation followed by poor results, bitter acrimony and a hasty exit in season three.

Both men now have a chance to change that. Jones is in his third year with England and Mourinho is entering his third with Manchester United.

But to do that they need to abandon some of their old ideas and embrace new ones. Both men are accused of being too rigid.

Mourinho is too conservative and Jones, in complete opposite, too obsessively attacking.

United can’t score goals, despite an embarrassment of attacking riches, while England have no problem scoring tries but can’t defend them.

England seem to have lost their identity while United can’t find one.

Both men are victims of their own success and have huge expectations around them, as well as being in charge of very high-profile sporting teams, and nothing but success will be tolerated.

England are just fifteen months out from a Rugby World Cup and they will need to make a quick decision on whether or not to pull the trigger on Jones’ reign, similar for Mourinho – ongoing poor results will increase the pressure on his tenure.

For both men the magic formula for that success needs to be found – and fast.