Eddie Jones coy on England future after World Cup final defeat

Jones was also reticent to comment on his earlier call for his reign to be judged by his team's performance at the World Cup.

"I don't think that's relevant at this stage," he said. "I'm just thinking about my team, they're hurting badly enough.

"South Africa were worthy winners but I can't fault the effort of my players. They've been outstanding throughout the World Cup and played with a lot of pride and passion.

"Today we just struggled to get on the front foot. They were very aggressive around the ruck and the breakdown and obviously they had dominance in the scrum.

"It wasn't until late in the second half that we got any power in the scrum and it's hard playing off back-foot ball."

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus, who is stepping down from the role, admitted he never dreamt of winning the World Cup when he took on the job in early 2018.

He said: "It feels weird. Two years ago I didn't think that (we) would realistically be able to do it but six or seven months ago I started believing it and about three or four weeks ago I thought it was realistic for us.

"And now we stand here and we did it. I'm so proud of the players and I'm so proud of my country, so proud that we stand together and that they believed in us back home, we could feel that. I'm so proud to be a South African right now.

"We've had a few bad times the last two years but for the next couple of months this will be good news for us.

"Our big challenge now is to use this for the next eight or nine years to make sure that South Africa rugby is strong again and unify on many different levels. I'm going to make it my mission to make sure we use it as a springboard to use it in a very positive way"