Iceland defeat proves England are too polite in sport, says Eddie Jones, on eve of Six Nations

As an Australian, Jones wants his side to challenge the coaching staff in order to think for themselves, and notes England's dismal Euro 2016 as why the problem spreads further than rugby

Eddie Jones believes his England side are learning to think for themselves to improve the entire squad (Getty)

England coach Eddie Jones has declared on the eve of his side’s campaign to defend the Six Nations title that the English are too polite and reserved and need to put more cussedness into their approach to sport.

Jones, who is wracked by five key injuries which he insists are not a result of his intense approach to training sessions, cited the national football team’s defeat by Iceland last summer as an example of English tendency to accept coaches’ advice, lacking an ability to argue, challenge and think independently.

“If I was to generalise as an Australian talking about the English – which is probably not a good thing to do, but I’ll do it anyway – I find the English to be very reserved,” Jones said. “The last thing I find them to be is arrogant. I find them to be very polite, reserved people and I find that with the players.

“We are encouraging the players to be more forthright. We are saying to the players, ‘If we’re not giving you the right preparation, we want you to tell us. Don’t accept it.’ To me, that is the problem. Maybe football is the same – the players are too reserved. The manager comes in and says, ‘You do this, we will play this formation’ and it’s not right for the players but the players accept it because he is the manager; he’s the boss and they get on with it. Then against Iceland, with 20 minutes to go it’s not working and they’ve got nothing to fall back on...”

Jones did not rule out Billy Vunipola being back in the England side by the end of the Six Nations and said that his brother Mako was “probably at least three or four weeks away” which could conceivably see him face the Scots on March 11, but he confirmed that Chris Robshaw, the No 6 and glue which binds the side together, would not play a part in the tournament.” George Kruis, the Saracens lock, was seeing a surgeon on Thursday amid hopes that he may be available to face Wales next week.

The Scotland game at Twickenham looks certain to have needle, following former coach Jim Telfer’s attack this week on so-called English arrogance and on Jones, whom he compared to Donald Trump. Jones responded robustly.

“Jim's quite entitled not to like me, that's his prerogative,” the Australian said. “But to say the fans at Twickenham are arrogant is absolutely ridiculous. I've coached all around the world and I think the fans at Twickenham are passionate, loyal, reasonably well-educated and provide a great atmosphere. It's one of the greatest rugby grounds in the world. If he doesn't like that, don't come, simple as that.”

It was put to Jones that the stadium choreography – including music after tries – might contribute to a sense that England were arrogant. “I don't care,” he said. “I coach the rugby team, I'm not involved in media promotions. That's up to someone else. I'm happy just to coach the team. As long as we're scoring tries they can play YMCA for all I care.”

He insisted that his tough training regimes were not the cause of the long injury list. “No. We've had two incidences. One's a soft tissue issue...Anthony [Watson] was chasing Owen Farrell, couldn't catch him and strained his hamstring.”

Jones also insisted that a 14-game winning run for England would not breed complacency. “It gives you confidence,” he said. “Winning gives you confidence and confidence breeds enthusiasm. “Enthusiasm breeds more hard work and willingness to be innovative. One of the things that happens when you lose is that you tend to go into yourself and you go back to what you thought was comfortable and right. That’s where you get a cycle of going backwards.

Jones says his England squad are much fitter than when they won the Grand Slam (Getty)

“You keep looking at different ways to get better. For instance, our strength and conditioning has probably changed 80 per cent in the last 12 months. As a result of that, our players are infinitely fitter than they were. That is the result of the players being able to embrace a new way of training and a new way of looking at how you have to be fit for Test rugby.”

Scrum-half Baptiste Serin and flanker Damien Chouly have been included by France coach Guy Novès in his team for Saturday. Novès saw his team play some good rugby in the November internationals but lose against Australia and New Zealand.