England on a mission to lift gloom of Six Nations

DEFIANT England will enter hostile territory, encounter alien conditions and face fired-up rivals today, armed with a fervent desire to dispel the negativity which has engulfed them in recent months.

Results and rows have combined to create a siege mentality among the squad.

Three defeats in the Six Nations and a fifth-place finish burst the bubble of English prosperity under Eddie Jones.

Last month, a grim ordeal at the hands of the Barbarians — who plundered nine tries at Twickenham — intensified the sense that a crisis was starting to unfold in the year before the World Cup.

Jarring disputes have aggravated the situation, including a club-v-country collision over the injury toll at England training camps and an awkward stand-off with the New Zealand Rugby Union over the recruitment of Kiwi flanker Brad Shields. Add the long casualty list and the news that defence coach Paul Gustard is leaving to take charge at Harlequins means the backdrop to this South Africa tour has been turbulent in the extreme.

But Jones and his squad are hell-bent on making a mockery of increasingly gloomy forecasts. The head coach bristled as he set the tone for today’s series opener against the Springboks.

He said: ‘Everyone is bagging (criticising) us, saying we can’t win. From former players to excoaches, (they’re saying) we’re no good, so this is a great opportunity to show we are of value.

‘We went through a period when we were very successful. We came to the end of that period.

‘I think we got tactically, physically and mentally tired. We’ve all had a break and had a look at how we want to prepare as a team.’

The party line is that this is a ‘new’ England, with a rejigged team, a new captain in Owen Farrell (below) and a ‘new way’ to play the game.

‘We learned a lot about ourselves in the Six Nations,’ said Farrell. ‘We were probably not as bad as everyone made out at the time.’

Ellis Park, the intimidating cathedral of Bok rugby, seems an unlikely place to launch an England revival. But, while the hosts are marginal favourites, there will be no trepidation among the tourists.

On this side of the equator, England have played five and won five under Jones.

They whitewashed Australia 3-0 in 2016 and won back-toback Tests in Argentina last summer.

Fly-half George Ford, who featured in all five victories, insisted there has been a mindset shift since the days when weary northern teams ventured south to take their medicine every June.

‘On past tours, it may have been a bit like that, but under Eddie it’s been about going up against the best teams in the world, performing and winning,’ he said.

Rassie Erasmus, South Africa’s new head coach, has claimed this will be a series between two ‘desperate’ teams, but the English rut is not as deep as the one the Boks find themselves in. They have been a rabble in recent years. Erasmus is without a lot of clout, especially up front, where the hosts must attempt to establish their direct, power game without Malcolm Marx, Bismarck du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager. England were battered last time they came to Ellis Park but there must be doubts about the ability of this Bok pack to inflict similar damage.

England need a positive result to clear the negativity and provide reassurance that the bandwagon has not been shunted off course.