Jones believes his successor Steve Borthwick, under whom England have won their past seven Tests and finished third at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, is managing the transition well.
“Steve inherited that [situation] and did a great job at the 2023 World Cup,” Jones said.
“He coached very efficiently and got the most out of that squad. And now he’s creating a different squad.”
England’s pair of Test wins against Argentina in the summer caught Jones’ eye.
“He’s starting to build a really effective style,” Jones said. “They played some really good rugby against Argentina – pragmatic, very efficient, tough, keep-at-it, all the attributes that Steve had as a player.”
Borthwick was Jones’ forwards coach during the Australian’s most successful spell with England, and the pair similarly combined to help Japan to a landmark win over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup.
Jones says the Brave Blossoms’ 34-32 win over the Springboks has had the biggest legacy of any result in his 30-year coaching career.
“How does it rate? Well, probably in terms of the implications of that win, it’s the most important,” Jones said.
“2015 was the catalyst for the 2019 World Cup, when Japan hosted a very, very good World Cup and, for the first time ever and the only time, made the quarter-final.
“That’s a pretty rare achievement for a country outside the big eight in the world.
“The 2023 World Cup was a bit tougher for Japan, but it’s allowed Japan to be in the top tier of countries in the world and compete at the highest level.
“Like this year, if you just look at our end-of-season tour, we play Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales, Georgia.
“When I had Japan in 2012, we came across and played Romania and Georgia and had a pick-up game against the French Barbarians.
“So it allows the players the opportunity to play against the best in the world, to put Japan in the top tier, all from that game in 2015.”
After overseeing Australia’s pool-stage exit from the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Jones is leading Japan for a second time.
On Saturday, some 10 years on from that shock in Brighton, his side take on South Africa again on British soil, meeting at Wembley Stadium.
The match will pit Jones against South Africa’s Erasmus, who has similarly mixed innovation and outspokenness during his coaching career.
Jones says he learned most about Erasmus via a laptop he was given during a short-term stint with the Springboks during their title-winning run at the 2007 World Cup.
