People will look at South Africa before the last World Cup and see how a change in head coach can liberate players, but I can understand why England aren’t looking to part ways with Eddie Jones right now.
At this stage, I don’t know who would take the job and with re-signing Eddie until after the World Cup, the RFU had already made the decision that he is their man and they have to stick with it.
Sometimes you can put a new coach in and it changes things dramatically - just look at Harlequins last season - but I think for this group it is about having a consistent message and personnel taking the team forwards.
Now it’s a question of sitting down and understanding what the identity of this team is with this new group of players. What’s the style of rugby that they want to play? Does it suit the players? Is it being coached well?
England have to look at a lot of areas. The one sign of progress is the experience gained by the young players who stepped up.
But then you look at the attack, which didn’t score enough tries or make enough line breaks. Defensively, discipline was an issue at certain times and the Italy game aside they’re conceding nearly double the amount of tries they’re scoring. If you aren’t creating or taking your chances, you need to be tight in defence.
There also needs to be clarity going forwards as to what is England’s best 23 when everyone is fit and who are the next to step up for injuries.
Some positions are crystal clear - Ellis Genge and Maro Itoje both had strong performances during the Six Nations, as did Freddie Steward who was very consistent. But if you were to go through the team now, there are perhaps five positions where you are not sure who is the guy to take that shirt forward.
England have selection headaches and when you compare that with France, who have been relatively undisturbed all Six Nations, you can see where it has been difficult for Jones’ side to continually build combinations and improve performances.
That has been a big plus for France - they’ve got a clear identity in how they attack and defend.
You could pick a starting XV and most people would name the close to the same one.
England can definitely get to that level, no doubt about it, but it will probably take the painful times that they are going through now.
