Jones is on a shortlist to succeed Michael Cheika who has indicated he will stand down as Australia coach if the Wallabies do not win the tournament.
There would undoubtedly be an emotional pull for Jones who took his home country to the 2003 World Cup final before losing to England during his previous stint in charge of the Wallabies.
However the RFU are adamant they can hold onto their head coach, dismissing the audacious bid from Down Under for Jones’s services as “pure speculation”.
“He has signed a contract with England to 2021,” said an RFU spokeswoman on Wednesday.
Jones’s recent contract extension is a hurdle but not necessarily a brick wall. The RFU bought Jones out of his existing contract with the Stormers in 2015 to bring him to Twickenham.
The financial constraints on the ARU are much more severe but Rugby Australia high performance manager Ben Whitaker confirmed that Jones will be a target.
“I can’t speak on behalf of the board but if I’m tasked with pulling together a list of potential candidates, is Eddie Jones on there? Yeah, he is – quite obviously,” said Whitaker.
“Where that goes in terms of the process that we run, well, that will be determined. A lot of times the issue at international level is inexperience. International experience may be part of the criteria.
“I worked here with Eddie in 2003-05 – not that that makes any difference – but you appreciate his skills as a head coach. And if he’s willing and able, which are things you would have to work out, he would be on the list. Probably another dozen would be too.”
A second shot at coaching the Wallabies after his previous four-year spell ended acrimoniously in his sacking in 2005 would be tempting for the 58-year-old whose elderly mother and daughter still live in Australia.
The ARU’s new chief executive Raelene Castle has spelled out her preference for an Australian to fill the position but a major sticking point could be the 2021 Lions tour to South Africa.
Jones has thrown his hat into the ring for the position and had an escape clause inserted in his England contract for the position if it were offered to him.