EDDIE JONES has claimed there is “more pain to come for England” following their Six Nations loss to Scotland.
Steve Borthwick, who took over as head coach in December, watched his side suffer a dramatic 29-23 defeat in the Calcutta Cup on Saturday.
GettyScotland beat England at Twickenham last weekend[/caption]
PAEddie Jones has told England he is happy for them to blame him[/caption]
Steve Borthwick has slammed the state of the England team when he took overRex
After the match, the newly-appointed England boss insisted the team “weren’t good at anything” when he came in at the end of the year.
And Jones, who spent six years in charge, admits it is set to be a long road back but remains confident Borthwick is the man to put things right.
Speaking in his self-titled podcast EDDIE, he said: “He [Borthwick] 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 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.”
Happy to take responsibility for England’s demise, Jones continued: “And keep blaming me, that is alright. I have got a pretty strong back and pretty strong shoulders to absorb that.
“When you are young players, inconsistency is unfortunately a part of your apprenticeship at Test level. 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.”
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Jones is now in charge of the Australia national team ahead of the World Cup later this year.
Meanwhile, Borthwick’s England will look to bounce back from the loss to Scotland when they host Italy on Sunday.
The Red and Whites have never lost a match to the Italians in 29 previous meetings.
And Jones believes there will be a response from his former team.
He added: “The English always bounce back. I think they will go back to a more contestable kicking game against Italy: Put the ball in the air, try to get the ball back and use their big forwards.
“They [Italy] 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.
“England got tired and ragged in their defence [vs Scotland]. 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.”