Just one year ago everything was rosy in the English garden, with a Six Nations title in the bag and a bright and exciting future with great players like Maro Itoje showing the next generation will bring new ideas and new titles. It was a good time for English Rugby fans and a genuine assault on next year’s World Cup and the world number one spot that has been held onto tightly by New Zealand looked like a potential target.
However, this year’s Six Nations has brought us back down to earth with a huge crash and bang after three straight defeats including a particular lackadaisical and lazy one to France. It was the opposite of what a coach wants to see after a big defeat. Usually they hope for big performances and huge results in order to get a side back on track but England looked broken and beaten.
Even when given a chance to beat Ireland and stop them winning a Grand Slam, England looked miles off the pace and it was hard to match them up with the side that was so excited and promising last year.
England, for the first time in a while, look like they need something beyond cosmetic work and more of a shake up. There is no question around whether Eddie Jones will be given the time to shake things up but his position has certainly become less strong, especially after, as theguardian.com some public issues with comments that he made.
The Autumn internationals will be Jones next chance to get the side back on track. England were massive favorites for many of their games but the fact they lost hit people hard. If you believe that Jones will get England back on track then there are many excellent offers at www.freebets.co.uk, including Coral’s free £20 welcome bonus, which you can use to back England to beat their rivals and if they fail to do so, you won’t lose any of you own money, its a real win win.
They will face South Africa, Japan, New Zealand and Australia in a period that will be testing but also, hopefully triumphant. For Jones those matches bring a huge shot at redemption, at making it to the top, at really showing that he had and his side are not going anywhere. If they want to really stay at the top table they need to show guts and determination.
The games against Japan, South Africa and arguably Australia are all incredibly important and just win games. If England really want to be seen as a contender for next year’s world cup then they have to win and they have to win well to be back on the top rung.
New Zealand is a different story as they are just so far ahead of the chasing pack. England will be hoping to test them and to put in a good performance. If they can shock them and win, then maybe another World Cup might not be beyond them.
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