RFU backs England to have successful autumn international series under Eddie Jones

Rugby Football Union chief executive Steve Brown has backed England under Eddie Jones to have a successful autumn international series despite the poor results this year.

The red rose team under Jones had a terrific start as they went on to win 24 out of the 25 Tests including a series win in Australia, back to back Six Nations title and undefeated autumn international campaigns in 2016 and 2017.

However, the team had a slide this year that saw them lost five consecutive games including two in the recently concluded June series in South Africa that sparked criticism on Jones with the World Cup around the corner.

Even though England brought an end to the losing streak with a consolation win in the third and final Test against Springboks in Cape Town, Brown insisted that the results in the upcoming November series will be carefully monitored.

"I've reflected over the time Eddie has been at his post and his win rate [80 per cent]," said Brown.

"The win rate is still very high - it's significant and it's hard to argue against it.

"It's important that we don't just make a judgement on what's happened in the very short term. Nevertheless, it was a pretty poor run of results.

"We showed great character for the result in Cape Town but the series result was disappointing, there's no question about it.

"So was the Six Nations. Coming fifth in the Six Nations was a pretty difficult situation.

"The last result in South Africa was important, but not critical to any decisions we make about the future.

"The confidence comes from the history to date and talking to Eddie about the plans for the autumn and the World Cup and how to get back to that win rate.

"I've discussed this with Eddie and I'm confident those disappointing results are behind us and can be turned around."

England will face a tough November series that includes games against South Africa, World Champions All Blacks and Japan at Twickenham and Brown believes it will be a perfect opportunity for a turnaround as they build to the World Cup next year.

"We plan to win every game we play. We expect success in the autumn," he added.

"I don't want to predict failure, I'd rather predict success, but that's not in blind faith. They're all big matches. We're planning to come out of the other side successful."