England’s last World Cup campaign foundered after George Ford was dropped and they need an uplift in performances to stop next year’s one heading the same way
“There’s always that question there,” Eddie Jones reflected during the January launch of the Six Nations. He was talking about Ireland, citing them as the favourites to win the tournament and describing the pressure that fertilises expectation and attention.
The question was whether Joe Schmidt’s side would be able to handle it, and six weeks on the championship is panning out in the way Jones laid out: predicted is the wrong word because England’s coach hardly conceded the title before a ball had been kicked and his dismissal of Scotland as “big darlings” who get people excited by moving the ball from side to side did not suggest an end to England’s 10-year unbeaten run in the Calcutta Cup.
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