NO WRAY CLUBS ARE CULPRITS

ENGLAND have been told to look at themselves rather than the clubs before playing the Six Nations blame game.

The deposed champions are smarting from their worst championship finish for 35 years, with many saying they looked tired and jaded.

An awful campaign was capped by news last night that Anthony Watson’s season – including England’s summer tour – has been ended by a torn Achilles suffered against Ireland (above).

Much is made of players in England – unlike Ireland – having to serve two masters as the clubs are their principal employers. And Sir Clive Woodward (right) reckons Maro Itoje was “out on his feet” on Saturday.

But Nigel Wray, chairman of Itoje’s club Saracens, defended the way players are looked after by the European champions and said the problem lies away from the clubs.

Wray said: “The number of club games hasn’t gone up, the number of international games has soared. The pressure’s only coming from one direction.

“England are having more and more time, that the clubs have given them, with the players. I would ask how much more time do England want players for?

“They’ve had them for the best part of two months. How many more weeks do you need before you have a good side?

“I don’t think another two weeks, stuck in some hotel in the middle of nowhere, is going to do them any good at all personally, though obviously we need a better solution than we’ve got at the moment.”

Eddie Jones has not used fatigue as an excuse. He knows he works the players hard and that the system was delivering well enough when England had lost only one in 25.

Wray added: “If you ask me what the fundamental reason is, having watched virtually every single England game, it’s that at the moment we’re not good enough.”