England's turmoil around coach Eddie Jones is similar to Australia in 2005. Photo / AP
The clamour swirling around Eddie Jones' future bears striking similarities to that he found himself in as Australia coach in 2005.
As Jones headed across the lobby of the Cardiff Hilton Hotel on the eve of the game against Wales in November of that year, he was pondering how to sustain the mini-upturn recorded the previous week when Australia had beaten Ireland after seven defeats in a row.
The Australian was intercepted by veteran Sydney Morning Herald reporter Greg Growden, who had something to tell the coach, namely the paper was running a splash the next morning saying Jones would be sacked no matter the Wales result.
Growden wanted a formal response, Jones was understandably angered but did return to provide a quote which bore all the hallmarks of the comments made by him last weekend following England's series loss to South Africa, namely: "The only thing I try to do is coach the team well."
As Growden left the lobby, he bumped into a Wallaby forward, who asked him why he was looking so serious. Growden related what was due to happen to Jones. "Fair enough," came the reply from the player.
It is only fair to point out that things have not yet come to such a pass with England.
However, no team and no union can keep on losing without repercussions at some point, especially if the slump were to continue at Twickenham in November in front of a home crowd.
Jones has his supporters, understandably so given his impressive track record. Those who were closely involved with him back then believe he has the strength of character, and rugby acumen, to survive.
"Eddie lives by the sword and dies by the sword," says George Gregan, who, much like Dylan Hartley, endured calls for the pair of them to go. "The [Australian] union probably wanted two heads at the time and they got Eddie's. You do wonder if it was the right decision to get rid of him. Certainly the Wallabies didn't find any more consistency.
"Eddie does things his own, singular way - always has, always will. If everyone else is heading north, he'll tell you to go south. He makes people uncomfortable. It's an exhilarating ride but it is challenging."
England have had considerable success under Jones, as did Australia, rounding off 2004 with a victory at Twickenham and starting their annus horribilis with a 74-7 win over Samoa. But there had been off-field incidents as well as boardroom in-fighting that suggested things might be unravelling. Fast-forward to 2018, and the Rugby Football Union is braced for redundancies, with all the upset and turmoil such situations invariably trigger.
As Growden relates in Inside the Wallabies (published 2010), when Australia arrived in New Zealand in June 2005 for the Tri Nations game, they were met by a mock-up photograph in a newspaper of an airport conveyor belt with a wheelchair, a walking stick and a first-aid kit labelled with Australian stickers.
The Wallabies became known as the Wobblies and there was talk of unrest in camp, with three players reportedly going behind Jones' back to agitate with the union over his methods.
They were tough times, the phrase Jones used last weekend to describe England's predicament.
"There are a lot of similarities with what England are going through now," said former Wallaby hooker Stephen Moore, who was given his debut that year by Jones and went on to captain his country for several seasons, winning 129 caps and retiring only last year.
"I was the new bloke back then, trying to keep my head down and thinking it was a breeze after that win over Samoa. I've been in this situation with the Wallabies, including when Eddie's team beat us 3-0 in Australia in 2016. A lot of noise comes from the outside at such times. Your self-belief gets impacted. I know several of Eddie's back-room staff.
"And what I know of Eddie himself is that he won't let the team go into its shell. It is up to the leaders to galvanise them. It's not easy."
Jones is a combative figure by instinct, known as "The Beaver" in his playing days when he used to get down and dirty, burrowing away. He demands excellence to the point of obsession, forever changing routines, trying new things, scheming outside the box.
In 2005, it was getting the Wallabies to wear special sunglasses on their flight to South Africa as a means of supposedly combating jet-lag. These days it is bringing in a brain professor. One of Jones' assistants in 2005 was once spotted on a flight perusing a self-help manual on confidence. He was asked why. "So that I can stand up to Eddie better," came the reply.
"The true measure of success is what you manage to do with what you've got," said former Wallaby World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer, something of a mentor to Jones. "Statistics can be very misleading. England are in good hands."
The correlation with events 13 years ago is uncanny and troubling.