Eddie Jones needs a fairly successful summer tour after a hideous Six Nations. Jones, having renamed his substitutes as 'finishers' and crowed constantly about winning the 2019 World Cup, had his best-laid plans ripped asunder by a Six Nations that featured just two wins and a fifth-placed finish.
England head to South Africa for a three-test tour this summer, and should they lose all three - which seems eminently possible - it will mean Jones is staring down the barrel of six straight defeats.
Yesterday, Jones announced his squad for that tour. It features a return for Danny Cipriani and eight uncapped players with Owen Farrell named captain in Dylan Hartley's absence. In arguably England's biggest boost, Billy Vunipola is fit to return.
Reflecting on where things have gone wrong for England of late, Jones took a bold strategy of bemoaning the "selfishness" of some of his own players.
It is a sporting environment here that is based around selfishness, about individual gain. We are constantly battling it. We got complacent about unity without a doubt [in the Six Nations]. It always happens. Whenever you're going well everyone's together at the front of the bus, everyone's got their shirt off, everyone's singing the song.
When you lose there are always one or two who get up the back and say, 'well it's not my fault as I've done my job and the other blokes need to do it better'. It is definitely a key issue. Just look at the commercial opportunities here compared to other countries. They are much greater. We have been on top of it. Maybe we are not on top of it now. It is a constant issue for us.
While there may be truth to Jones' diagnosis, to criticse one's own players is always brave strategy that borders on foolish.
[NZ Herald]
