England’s confidence back to what it was in 2016, says Jamie George

After an encouraging autumn series, rounded off by Saturday's 37-18 win over Australia, it seems the feel-good factor has returned to England

Jamie George believes England have recovered the “inner belief” that marked their early days under Eddie Jones following an encouraging autumn series which saw the side win three out of four Tests.

After recording their worst-ever finish at the Six Nations Championship earlier this year – followed by the series defeat in South Africa – England are now back in the ascendancy, having beaten South Africa, Japan and Australia over the course of the past month.

And while Jones’ men may have been denied an historic win against New Zealand, losing 16-15 at Twickenham, such a narrow defeat reaffirmed the progress made by this side following a difficult 2018.

Now, with the autumn series over - rounded off by the 37-18 win over Australia - it seems the feel-good factor is back.

When asked whether the feeling that marked England’s 2016 season – in which they clinched the Six Nations Grand Slam and recorded a series whitewash in Australia – had returned to the side, Saracens’ George was clear in his response.

“There’s a very similar feeling yes,” he said after Saturday’s victory. “I think it’s just that confidence, that inner belief. It’s difficult to put a word on it – there’s an edge to us personally. You can see that they’re doing everything they can and you’ve got so much confidence in the people around you. You know that we’re doing something special and there’s a similar feeling.”

George, who was given the nod ahead of veteran Dylan Hartley for Saturday’s showdown at Twickenham, also offered his take on the series as a whole.

“We’ll look back at the autumn now pretty happy with how it went,” he said. “Obviously we’d have loved to have gone four from four and there was an opportunity to do that but the team is building into a nice place now and there are a lot of positives to take from it and on reflection I think we did pretty well and it’s an exciting time.

“We’re in a really good place, we’re building really nicely and that’s what we just said in the changing room now. Owen [Farrell] spoke and said the feeling that we’re getting is so positive at the minute and I think the way that we’ve developed from the South Africa week to now is huge and so exciting. We’re desperate to get back into camp and our focus is already on Ireland.”

However, the hooker admitted that his side still have much to learn ahead of next year’s Six Nations opener against the Irish – but added that he and his teammates were relishing the opportunity to further improve.

“We’re in a good place, we’re not in an amazing place so we’ve got room to grow but the mentality of the group is we’re desperate to get better so there’s sort of an edge to us at the moment that I’m really enjoying.”