'This team is finished': England coach's brutal World Cup call

Eddie Jones has responded to England's World Cup final defeat by South Africa by admitting the current team is "finished".

And in a sign of his commitment to his contract with England and not pursuing other opportunities, such as with the Wallabies, Jones is already planning for England's future.

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A 32-12 rout in Yokohama on Saturday crushed the nation's hopes of lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy for the second time after expectations had been raised by emphatic victories over Australia and New Zealand in the previous rounds.

Jones is contracted to remain England head coach until 2021 and the Rugby Football Union is expected to offer fresh terms that will take him to the next World Cup in France.

But a number of the 31-man squad taken to Japan are to be jettisoned for next year's Six Nations as Jones begins rebuilding for the next assault on the global stage.

"I tell you what happens to teams - they evolve," Jones said.

"Some guys will lose desire, some guys will lose fitness, some guys will get injuries, and there'll be young guys come through. So this team is finished now.

"There will be a new team made - we'll make a new team for the Six Nations and that new team for the Six Nations will be the basis of going to the next World Cup.

"And I'll have them for the first two years. And you're so lucky because you've got me for another two years."

‘Massively disappointing’ for England

George Ford is at a loss to explain England’s inability to make a meaningful contest of Saturday’s World Cup final rout by South Africa.

A 32-12 defeat in Yokohama ended Japan 2019 in the most deflating way possible as Eddie Jones’ men failed to show up for a match they were expected to win comfortably.

The Springboks savaged passive opponents who barely fired a shot, their mastery up-front matched by two brilliantly taken tries finished by wings Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe.

After the spectacular demolition of New Zealand in the semi-finals, English optimism was cruelly punctured and Ford echoed Jones’ admission that the reasons are baffling.

“South Africa were the better team on the day by a good distance. It’s massively disappointing,” Ford said.

“We can’t put our finger on why but sometimes you have days like that when you’re not good enough.

“The thing with cup finals is it’s on the day. You get to a final and you’re not guaranteed anything, all it was was an opportunity.

“And we were not good enough today to finish it off. But we’ll stick together and we’ll move on.

“It’s hard to say anything to make anyone feel better. We’ve massively enjoyed our time together, we’ve become closer as a group and played some good rugby along the way.”

England flattened New Zealand during a lightning-fast start but against South Africa they were on the receiving end of the same treatment and did not recover as the Springboks became the first team to lose a World Cup game yet lift the Webb Ellis Trophy.

“We were inaccurate in the first 20 minutes and couldn’t get a foothold in the game in any sense,” Ford said.

“They kept putting pressure on us and managed to get points on the board. Against a team like South Africa, it’s always hard to chase.

“Physicality and accuracy are probably two things you need to get together to get a fast start. I thought they had both of them and we probably lacked some accuracy.

“We need to absorb what they were throwing at us and then to try and throw a few punches ourselves. We just weren’t good enough to do that.”

With agencies