England facing their biggest test yet as injuries and captain doubts take their toll on dawn of the Six Nations

England are missing key players while there's a question over whether the captain should be in the team. Jack de Menezes explains why the bar has never been set higher

Dylan Hartley faces the biggest test of his reign as England captain this year (Getty)

The task doesn’t get much clearer for England: win another Six Nations Grand Slam and anything but will be deemed a failure. During the baron years under Andy Robinson and Brian Ashton, that suggestion would have been laughed out of the TW2 postcode, but these days under Eddie Jones, that is the expectation at Twickenham.

Failure to defend the crown they powered to last year will not go down well, especially with Jones’s four-year plan for the 2019 Rugby World Cup getting off to an undefeated first 12 months. So the bar is set unusually high for the red rose, and unlike last year they have a number of questions over their squad lingering, injury-enforced and otherwise.

Let’s start with the injuries and the absence of the Vunipola brother, Mako and Billy. The two have been mainstays in Jones’s England squad, and under the Australian’s tutelage both have flourished. Mako has ousted Joe Marler as the recognised No 1 loosehead, while Billy could legitimately stake a claim to being one of the best players on the planet before knee cartilage damage suffered against Argentina last year ruled him out until April – Mako soon following him to the physio room with a knee ligament injury.

Chris Robshaw soon followed, the born-again blindside flanker who despite being ditched by Jones as not only his No 7 but also his captain has proven his weight in gold. Shoulder surgery means the Harlequins flanker will miss the campaign, and has thrown what looked a first British and Irish Lions tour in doubt in the summer.

Jones also saw Manu Tuilagi’s name added to the long-term absentees list, though that felt more like an inevitable blow given the unlucky Leicester centre’s five years of constant injury trouble.

However, losing Anthony Watson for the first two matches at least and George Kruis, on the eve of the tournament’s kick-off, has added to England’s selection headache. Now factor in their best starting XV, which may not include under-fire captain Dylan Hartley, and you better start reaching for the paracetamol. With Hartley not playing a match for more than seven weeks thanks to a ban for a swinging arm on Leinster’s Sean O’Brien, there were suggestions that he may not be retained as captain for the Six Nations. His attendance at the official launch dispelled those reports, but Jones has stressed the importance of finding other leaders, and with Jamie George champing at the bit the hooker role, Hartley needs to deliver.

Finally, once the problems at home are resolved, there are those abroad to contend with. Ireland are coming off the biggest result in their history after finally beating New Zealand last autumn, why the Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland in round four has suddenly taken on a much bigger significance following Jim Telfer’s controversial comments about Jones, Twickenham and English rugby fans on the whole.

Eddie Jones's four-year plan ticks into year two with the start of the Six Nations (Getty)

But there’s not so much a silver lining as a gold one for England. Maro Itoje and Jack Nowell return to the fold, two of the most exciting young players in world rugby, while the George Ford-Owen Farrell will get another tournament to build their blossoming relationship that flourished in the autumn international.

After an easy 2016, the hard work starts now for Jones’s new England.