England have a raft of issues to resolve before their Rugby World Cup opener on September 9, following just two wins from their Six Nations campaign.
Here, Nick Purewal looks at what will be crowding Steve Borthwick’s mind.
Complete the coaching set-up and get straight down to work
Richard Wigglesworth and Aled Walters will arrive from Leicester at the end of the Premiership season. Wigglesworth will handle the attack, unless Nick Evans is retained. A scrum and forwards specialist is also required, with Richard Cockerill heading to Montpellier.
Finalise pre-World Cup plans
Several elements of Eddie Jones’s World Cup preparatory logistics have had to be reshaped. Borthwick can drill down into the detail of the set-up for their four warm-up matches in the summer and the training camps that will start in June.
Whip players into shape
England’s fitness proved a major concern at the top of the Six Nations, and England have high hopes for the impact conditioning specialist Walters will make. He will have to pull off those gains in double-quick time, however.
Sharpen England’s attacking edge
England’s attack has been blunt, and they failed to make a single line break during Saturday’s defeat. Borthwick insists this is the element that takes the longest to bring together.
Anyone of a Red Rose persuasion would settle for a thrilling, fluent attacking game in France as the pay-off for a miserable Six Nations campaign. England simply have to produce more wit, ingenuity and imagination.
