Jones has played this far too safe

For someone with bucketloads of character and charisma, a coach who has won a Grand Slam at his first attempt, a coach who has done everything right since he walked into Twickenham, Eddie Jones has played a surprisingly conservative hand with the squad he’s named to face Australia.

I really was hoping for something to get even more excitement going in what has been a great season for English rugby after the embarrassment of the rugby World Cup, which was only six months ago!

A 32-man squad has no Chris Ashton, Danny Cipriani, Steffon Armitage or Sam Underhill and that is really surprising. These are all players who offer the sort of game to go head to head with Australia and this was the perfect chance to work with them.

I’m astonished Cipriani (below) has not even been given the chance to play against Wales on Sunday; he really must, as I am, be totally bewildered how the last four England coaches do not see what I see.

These tours are about finding out about your players. Eddie already knows much about this squad and here was a golden opportunity to make sure he has got his initial impressions right. Next year there’s a Lions tour, so key players will be missing and as England coach you get few chances to find out about players.

If England come away with three losses, it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, as long as they’ve got a better idea of how to win against the power of the Southern Hemisphere.

I expected Eddie to use all of his negotiating skills to select Armitage and Underhill, who we could see potentially compete with the Wallaby back- row threat of David Pocock and Michael Hooper.

There is still no real pace in England’s back row, but I would love to have seen England become even more physical at scrums and competitive at lineouts by moving Maro Itoje to play alongside Billy Vunipola and Armitage.

But my immediate concern is that England do not fall into the trap that the rFU and Premiership rugby delivered to Stuart Lancaster — choosing to play Test matches and not using England’s strongest selections. rugby’s got to be really careful about becoming too motivated by the smell of cash. None of the rFU administrators have a clue about the dynamics of playing, coaching and selecting international rugby teams.

The first time I saw the Stuart Lancaster programme go badly off the rails was when the Premiership final clashed with the tour to New Zealand in 2014. His whole selection became confused and this is not a good situation for Eddie Jones.

It’s absurd to play a Test against Wales the day after the Premiership final and it completely devalues the fixture. And why just three Test matches in Australia? Taking a squad of 32 players means you need two midweek games in order to give everyone a proper start and see at first hand who can play at this level.

Jones should be playing two Wednesday night games. The local sides would love to get a crack at England and that would be the time to try out some new players.

There are guys who will go on this trip and not play much rugby. Youngsters like Teimana Harrison, Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler need a chance to prove themselves.

Saturday’s Premiership semifinals were brilliant and Eddie must be pinching himself that English club rugby is so strong. Exeter’s journey to the final has been remarkable and the return of Henry Slade will be massive. This squad can go to Australia and win all three Tests — it’s a very settled group — but I’m disappointed Eddie didn’t give a few more of his X-factor players a seat on the

flight.