Five questions for England and Jones to answer
With England slumping to their worst Six Nations finish in 31 years, Eddie Jones is facing questions that have not cropped up since he replaced Stuart Lancaster. The Australian will face a Rugby Football Union [RFU] review in the wake of the disappointment, which saw his side suffer alarming consecutive defeats by Scotland, France and Ireland.
The RFU’s chief executive Steve Brown will address the media on Wednesday regarding, among many things, Jones’ management and the significant drop in both English results and performances, but he is certain to face other questions about the current state of the game on these shores and whether the RFU
risk being left behind by their closest rivals.
Here, we look at the five pressing topics for Jones and the RFU to address.
1. Selection
Without doubt the most important area for Jones to rectify as without the right players there’s no amount of coaching that will make England click. Jones looked to be on the right track with his selection, with just the problematic openside flanker role to fill – something that has baffled many an England coach before him.
But he now looks further away from a settled starting line-up than he ever has been before: George Ford or Owen Farrell at fly-half, Ben Te’o or Jonathan Joseph – or both – in the centre, Mike Brown or Anthony Watson at full-back, two second rows or three?
The one certainty comes in the form of the one man who did not play one minute in the Six Nations. If Billy Vunipola can get back to full fitness – and that’s a much bigger if than Jones will have liked – then he is certainly the player that England need to build their side around. With the Saracens No 8 back in, it allows Jones to play ball-winning flankers like Sam Underhill or Tom Curry, two locks instead of three and a scrum-half like Danny Care to exploit the front-foot ball that Vunipola gains.
2. Playing time
The difference in the number of minutes that England’s players are deployed for during a season and that of their Celtic and French rivals is simply unsustainable if the RFU want the national team to be consistently successful. Coming into the tournament, Owen Farrell had played nearly double the time of rugby that Johnny Sexton had seen this season, while the England squad on Saturday had played 361 minutes more than their Irish counterparts since the start of September – the equivalent of four-and-a-half matches.
As the tournament wore on, Jones’ side started to look fatigued – particularly in the matches against Scotland and France – and despite the head coach’s protestations that that wasn’t the case, it’s hard to believe that playing so much more rugby would not have taken its toll in a championship such as the Six Nations.
Unless the RFU can find a way to control how much rugby their best players are being exposed to – and whichever way they go about it it’s going to cost them – then elite English talent is always going to be drained after a British and Irish Lions or World Cup year. Some sort of central contract system is needed as the current Elite Player Squad isn’t working.
3. Accountability
Who will take the blame for England’s Six Nations failure? Eddie Jones repeatedly said he takes responsibility for not preparing his side correctly, but that’s what he’s paid to do, isn’t it? If Jones is failing to do his job then the RFU must seriously discuss if he is still the right fit for the role. That’s not to say he should be sacked – Jones has a lot of credit in the bank with the RFU – and taking such drastic action this close to a World Cup could be a disastrous decision.
But it can also have a short-term benefit, which has not only been seen under Jones himself, when he turned England around from 2015 Rugby World Cup flops to Six Nations Grand Slam champions in just three months, but also in the past when the RFU sacked Andy Robinson in 2006, hired Brian Ashton and miraculously reached the Rugby World Cup final the following year.
At present, it seems from the outside looking in that Jones is not having any of his decisions scrutinised by a higher power, with the RFU very keen to talk up Jones’ record so far and making the decision to award him a new contract. That could come back to haunt Steve Brown in particular when he has to explain the dismal showing this year on Wednesday.
4. Coaching
If Jones’ suitability is to be put under the microscope, then so should that of his assistants in Paul Gustard, Steve Borthwick and Neil Hatley, the defence, forwards and scrum coaches respectively. England’s scrum is not what it used to be – although that could easily be put down to the improvement made by other nations – their driving maul was ineffective against Ireland for the second year running, and while their lineout is normally reliable to produce possession, it rarely leads to the type of cutting first-phase ball that Ireland managed on Saturday.
Whether that’s because England have been worked out or they have simply failed to press on with their tactics, only those inside the camp will know. But there is also another factor in their failure this championship. England scored one try against a poor France side and one try against Scotland – the least of any side in the championship.
There is certainly a case for Jones to bring in a separate attack coach, given that he currently tasks himself to take care of that department. In recent weeks Jones has bristled when the suggestion has been put to him, but England do not look like a side that are developing an all-encompassing attack and a new face, with new ideas, may well be the breathe of fresh air that they need.
5. Leadership
It now seems fairly obvious why Jones has stuck with Dylan Hartley as his starting hooker and captain for so long. Without him in Paris, England looked desperately short on leaders against France, and even with him in the ranks there was still a lack of direction against Ireland come half-time.
Owen Farrell’s leadership qualities are coming on but they are not yet at elite Test level, while Jones’ other vice-captain in Billy Vunipola was an aforementioned notable absentee. That leaves a core of Chris Robshaw and George Ford as the next in line to form that leadership group, with the experience of Dan Cole, Mike Brown and James Haskell adding their experience to that. But while they talk the talk before and after matches, rarely during them do they show the type of leadership that England are crying out for.
Too often now the team have failed to adapt to circumstances going against them – both under this era and in the Stuart Lancaster-led one before it – and it has left them open to defeats that shouldn’t have happened: Wales in 2013 and again at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Ireland last year, France this year. The odd loss here and there is to be expected in rugby union – it even happened to the All Blacks twice last year. But when they start happening for the same reasons, the RFU, and particularly Jones, have something major to worry about.