The chickens are coming home to roost for Eddie

VIVALDI had a thing for the four seasons, and, with England’s 2021 Six Nations campaign looking like a spring shocker, so does this column. While it may seem uncharitable to dissect Eddie Jones’ record by leaving out his turbo-charged first two years in charge, the reality is that in the four seasons from 2018 to 2021, Jones has only a 50 per cent win-loss ratio against the leading sides in the world when England play them in a competitive environment.

- NICK CAIN

This means dispensing with peripheral matches like World Cup warm-ups and the Autumn Nations Cup. It concentrates instead on results in World Cups, the Six Nations, and Autumn series and Summer tours between England and the other seven top tier nations in the world: South Africa, New Zealand, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia.

Of the 23 matches against those teams in the last four years – including the loss to Wales last weekend – Jones’ England have won 11 and lost 11, with one draw (Scotland, 2019).

The 11 defeats have been against South Africa (3), France (2), Wales (2), Scotland (2), Ireland (1), and New Zealand (1) – and the 11 wins against South Africa (2), Wales (2), Ireland (2), Australia (2), France (1), Scotland (1), and New Zealand (1).

It is a sobering picture two years before the 2023 World Cup, and with a difficult assignment against France at Twickenham on Saturday, and an away trip to Dublin a week later, the chickens could be coming home to roost.

England can just about salvage Jones’ sinking status as a selector and strategist if they win both matches, and secure a mid-table Six Nations finish – but the odds are stacked against a stuttering England side achieving that great escape.

It is clear the Saracens relegation is at the root of the current problem because it has left Jones with six underprepared, under-par core players – Owen Farrell, Billy and Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Elliot Daly, and to a lesser extent, Maro Itoje.