England perfecting that odd contradiction — winning matches, losing friends

Some English players find their team’s lack of ambition as baffling as the fans crying out for a bit of style

England head coach Eddie Jones (right) during a training session at The Lensbury Hotel earlier this week. Picture:  Adrian Dennis

Long before Eddie Jones and England became an item, some on the Twickenham politburo came to the provocative conclusion that their team had outgrown the oldest annual tournament in international sport. It was, they decreed, no longer fit for purpose.

The hawkish wing of the Rugby Football Union campaigned secretly for radical change in the belief that their new best friends, the French, would join them in an unholy alliance. They would throw their lot in with the superpowers of the Southern Hemisphere on the basis that the Six Nations offered nothing in footwear to match the size of their boots.