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Steve Brown: Eddie Jones has the blueprint to return England to winning ways

RFU CEO Steve Brown has backed Eddie Jones to bring the winning feeling back to England. Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images

Rugby Football Union chief executive Steve Brown insists Eddie Jones has devised a plan that will restore England to winning ways.

A fifth-place finish in the recent Six Nations completed England's worst performance in the championship since 1987 and they enter a three-Test series against South Africa in June on the back of three straight defeats.

Jones has presented his review of the tournament including his blueprint to reverse the team's results to the RFU board and Professional Game Board (PGB), and his findings have encouraged Brown, who gave the Australian a vote of confidence last month.

"Eddie described the things that he felt needed to be improved and changed and his plan going forward," Brown said.

"I won't go into all the details, but he looked at a range of options and looked back at some history as well.

"It was a sensible evaluation of practical on-the-pitch type things that you'd expect and it's part of the journey of getting ready for the World Cup.

"Some of it's quite sensitive in a way, but he's definitely analysed it fully as you'd expect him to do and that's been well tested with both the board and the PGB.

"I took a great deal of confidence from those plans in how we can ignite the success we had until recently."

The RFU believes England will be able to take Brad Shields to South Africa under the umbrella of World Rugby's regulation nine -- which dictates that players must be released for international rugby -- if Jones decides to include him in the squad he names on May 10.

Shields, the Wasps-bound Crusaders captain, would use the Super Rugby break to begin a Test career made possible by his English parents amid an attempt from the New Zealand Rugby Union to prevent his involvement.

"If we were in the position where Eddie was to select Brad and to require him for the squad, then we would go through the normal process of regulation nine and hopefully that's fairly routine," Brown added.