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Five Areas Eddie Jones Will Look For Improvement From His England Team

Five Areas Eddie Jones Will Look For Improvement From His England Team

Big series ahead.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Undefeated champions of Europe, heck the entire Northern Hemisphere supposedly. It doesn't sound too bad at all for England but fortunately for them their Australian boss won't let them rest on their laurels in the three test series against his home nation starting Saturday.

England were very good in this winter's Six Nations, there's simply no getting away from that as much as others also want to bury the tournament for its quality, you can only beat what's put in front of you and besides the first two weeks were pretty rubbish but it definitely got better from there.

After a shocking World Cup under Stuart Lancaster the Red Rose really hit back in the Six Nations under Eddie Jones and with Dylan Hartley as captain there was more of a snarl compared to the nicey nicey approach under the previous regime.

Jones says all the right things at the right time but it's more than that the typically abrasive Aussie also says the 'wrong' things at the right time recently firing a rocket up the England squads' backsides by accusing some of them of getting lazy since the tournament finished in March.

So what now? Now it's really time for them to turn their attention to the 2019 World Cup in Japan by climbing back up the ranks in terms of the world. They may be best in Europe and fourth in the world but the Sanzar nations, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, are far and away ahead.

A trip to Australia and a chance to exorcise some of the demons from Twickenham in October is a difficult place to start but it could go very right. So where do Jones' side need to improve?

The scrum

Once upon-a-time England dominated the scrum, especially against Australia, but that isn't always the case now and certainly wasn't against the Aussies in the World Cup group game where England were battered in all parts of the field.

The 2007 World Cup was probably the peak of England's scrummaging when Jonny Wilkinson slotted home four penalties in the quarter final between the two sides and shocked the Southern Hemisphere side.

Joe Marler's absence gives Mako Vunipola the time to shine. In the loose there may be no better prop on form right now and he now has to prove his worth in the set piece and he could take Marler's place on a more permanent basis.

Discipline

Has a competition, match or five minutes gone by in recent times for England rugby union when the thing that most needs to be improved upon is the discipline in the team. At least since Martin Johnson's time as coach this seems to have been a major problem.

Dan Cole is an improved player all round but he really must stop giving away penalties especially at scrum time. James Haskell is another who could do with not giving so much away at the breakdown especially with so many forwards breathing down his neck.

England gave away 65 penalties in the Six Nations, that's 13 more than the closest other team Italy whilst Ireland and Wales gave away 50 pens each and Scotland and France only gave away 46 and 44 respectively. Australia will punish England if it continues.

The back-row

How well the back row did in the Six Nations is unquestionable with Chris Robshaw so much better with the weight of captaincy lifted from his shoulders and a return from six and half to just plain old six, to paraphrase Jones.

The problem though was that Haskell was in essence a six and a half anyway though with England still failing to work with a 'jackal' at seven, something they'll definitely come up against Down Under. There's no rules that say that they need a 'proper' seven but it might help.

To that end Teimana Harrison or Jack Clifford may get a chance in the back row and who knows Maro Itoje may still get a chance there. In the long run though Wasps' Nathan Hughes could yet be the answer when he gets English nationality later in the year.

10-12-13 axis

Another age old problem that seems to never go away, just how many centre partnerships have England tried since Tindall and Greenwood no longer operated together? Scary numbers you'd imagine.

Things worked well in the Six Nations with Ford at 10 and Farrell at 12 but the Saracens man has been in ridiculous form at 10 for club whilst Ford has only got worse and missed six of his seven attempts in the recent game against Wales. Both fly-halves have now lost the direct fatherly influence for their teams and it's Farrell who has so far come out of that best, he has to start at 10.

The centre partnership then has to change and with Manu Tuilagi out injured that leaves either Ben Te'o or Luther Burrell as the replacements. Burrell obviously has the experience and it's great to see him back in the squad after the World Cup debacle with Sam Burgess, which was in no way the rugby league converts fault. Burrell will likely get the nod in the first match but Te'o could be ready sooner rather than later.

At 12 Jonathan Joseph did a top job in the Six Nations and his injury is what led to Stuart Lancaster messing with the tried and trusted Ford-Barrett-Joseph axis that was working up to the Wales game in October. But if it's Te'o or Burrell at 12 where is the second kicker? Elliot Daly or Henry Slade could come into the thinking unless...

Full-back

It would have seen sacrilege to question Mike Brown's position even as recently as the World Cup with the Harlequins 15 one of the few players to come out of the tournament with any plus points following his frank admission of how bad he was hurting after England got knocked out and said he didn't trust teammates after details of the squad's inner workings were leaked.

Brown though wasn't at his best in the Six Nations and for the rest of the season with Quins. Meanwhile his competition for the England jersey Alex Goode has been in sensational form for Sarries. The 28 year-old was an integral part of Mark McCall's side's incredible double winning season.

One problem might be that Brown is one of the three vice-captains in the team and brings the aggression that Jones loves his team to show but Goode would could act as a second kicker and third receiver with Farrell at 10, Burrell or Te'o at 12 and Joseph at 13.

Will England win the series in Australia? To do that they'll need to win on Saturday.

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