Eddie Jones has agreed with England coach Steve Borthwick that the team he inherited was not good at anything.

Jones was sacked by the Rugby Football Union in December and Borthwick was named as his successor. Following England’s Calcutta Cup loss to Scotland Borthwick said “there was a lot of work to do” when he took charge as “England weren’t good at anything”.

The 62-year-old replied to the statement on his podcast EDDIE. He said: “He is probably right. And that was part of the problem. We were trying to morph a team that had been a very good set-piece and a very good kicking team.

“The way the game is played at the moment, that will win you games but it is probably not good enough to be a Rugby World Cup champion.

“So expanding the attack sometimes takes away from your strength. They are going through that difficult period now where they are trying to get the balance right in the game. There is no doubt Steve will fix it.

“And keep blaming me, that is alright. I have got a pretty strong back and pretty strong shoulders to absorb that.”

Eddie Jones: What else has he said?

Jones, who is now the Australia head coach, also spoke on the young players in the England team. Stars like Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt have come under scrutiny but Jones believes they need time to succeed.

“When you are young players, inconsistency is unfortunately a part of your apprenticeship at Test level,” Jones said. “You get lapses of concentration. As they build their Tests up and build their maturity, they will be really good players.

“There is probably still a bit more pain to go for England which is hard for the supporters and hard for the coaches but I am sure they will get through it.”

And he believes England’s Six Nations match against Italy on Sunday will be a close affair.

“They will come to Twickenham thinking they can win this game. When you believe you can win, it puts you in the front window. This will be a tighter game than it has been historically,” Jones said.

“England got tired and ragged in their defence [last week]. They will need to cover the field against Italy. They are prepared to pass the ball and prepared to make mistakes to pass the ball. England will need to get better spacing in their defence than they got last weekend.”

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