We cannot get it all so wrong again

EDDIE JONES was not joking when he said England would be holding back their best stuff for the World Cup.

They showed nothing against Argentina last week. Beyond first phase they were lost. Their attacking structure, set-up and ability to get people in the right place was terrible.

The team’s tactical axis – scrum-half, fly-half and inside-centre – was unable to physically articulate what the team had, presumably, been practising.

I was waiting to see the evolution of the 10-12 partnership of Marcus Smith (above) and Owen Farrell yet they were rarely on the ball.

Smith was anonymous, his worst game for England. He could not get in the game, though that was not all his fault.

England were constantly bunched in the middle of the field in attack with no threat of width and no conceivable way of playing anything other than off the No.9.

You can never accuse people of not trying because they’re trying their balls off, it just didn’t work. It looked like England were unsure of what to do next.

They resembled a group of players playing a system that was unfamiliar to them. It looked nothing like how they finished the series in Australia.

Argentina should have been left in no uncertain terms that England had an advantage in the scrums and were going to destroy them; were bigger in midfield and were going to go over the top of them.

It never felt like that. England picked a massive team, then did nothing at all to trouble Argentina. They never really confronted them with that physical presence.

Against Japan punching holes cannot be the end product, as it was against the Pumas, but the means to another more productive end.

Once they fracture the opposition defence they need to make it count, rather than look lost.

Maro Itoje says England must be very clear about the type of rugby they want to play and that is spot on.

Last week that clarity was absent. The clock is ticking. They can’t afford another false start.