Friendly way to knock us into shape

THIS is England’s one shot at knockout rugby before the next World Cup and a chance to show they have learned from the last one.

Never mind that the Autumn Nations Cup is a one-off event dreamt up to enable Test matches to be played in the northern hemisphere during the pandemic.

It gives England an opportunity to put into practice what they were taught in Japan when failing to cash in on their epic semi-final win over New Zealand.

Usually you have to contrive such a scenario, as Clive Woodward did in 2003 when demanding we treat successive tour matches against the Maori, New Zealand and Australia as a dry run for the knockout stages of the World Cup we would win five months later.

The Six Nations has no knockout element to it, while the traditional autumn campaign is a collection of friendlies.

Only the best-of-three format used for Test series on summer tours comes close to providing a sudden-death element.

Which is why I suspect Jones sees such value in this competition.

Victory over Wales would put England into the final, against in all likelihood France. A defeat and Pool A rivals Ireland could eliminate them on points difference.

Jones (above) is not a man to waste opportunities to learn and to improve.

On Thursday he referenced England’s World Cup failure when saying there are always attitude “issues” which need attention.

“It is like going from the semi-final of the World Cup where everyone is saying you’re fantastic,” he said. “But you’re not fantastic – as we found out in the final.”

A year on he will expect his team to see off Wales then come back to Twickenham and finish the job against a French side touted by many as potential World Cup winners next time.

England have taken 14 forwards to Llanelli, so their intent is clear. I just hope we see a bit more with ball in hand than we did a week ago.