Who’s to blame for England’s Six Nations shambles?

You might sum up the Six Nations simply: There were two good teams and four rather ordinary ones. Moreover, there wasn’t a single match which might leave the losing side feeling hard-done by and muttering, “we wuz robbed”.

The best match was in Paris between the two best teams, and though the Irish might quite reasonably think that the result might have been different in Dublin, few can deny that France were deservedly champions.

There is little doubt that there is more and better still to come from this young French team. But Ireland was impressive too. Nobody but France gave them a close game in this year’s Six Nations. They scored tries more readily than championship-winning Irish teams have often done, not certainly since Brian O’Driscoll was in his pomp. And, though Johnny Sexton is surely in the evening of his career, Ireland now has such strength in depth and such an assembly line of talent that they might already be favourites for next season’s tournament when France have to go to both Dublin and Twickenham. In Andy Farrell, they have a coach who seems to be a calm and sensible man of few words — for the media anyway.

Last season’s champions, Wales, fell away badly to finish fifth, losing their last game to Italy at the last minute. Italy’s first win for years, achieved by a delightful try, was probably welcome everywhere, except in Wales and perhaps by a few even here. Actually, Italy played a lot of adventurous rugby throughout the Six Nations tournament, and they, like France, have a team that looks as if it will only get better.

Wales beat Scotland, though most Scots probably say, “we beat ourselves”, and played heroically against France on a damp chill evening in Cardiff. They missed some players through injury but so did everyone else, and one had the feeling that several of those who have contributed to recent success may have had their day. The worry for Wales is that none of the Welsh clubs in what is now the United Rugby Championship is meeting with much success. So the Welsh cupboard looks unusually bare.

Scotland also disappointed: no progress, rather a step back. They beat England at Murrayfield, then played poorly in Cardiff, and never looked like beating either France or Ireland. Scotland’s best performances in recent years have come in matches when fly-half Finn Russell shone, but his light flickered only fitfully this Spring. Even so, it was Scotland’s tendency to make what Dan Maskell in his Wimbledon commentary first (I think) called “unforced errors” that in every match cost them dear.

Nevertheless, nowhere can disappointment be keener than in England. England should at least be challenging for the title every year, but for the second in succession they won only twice, their victims being Italy and Wales. Of course, they missed some injured players, but most of the absentees were in the team that failed last season too. English fans long for the return of the oft-injured Manu Tuilagi, but waiting for Manu has come to resemble “Waiting for Godot”.

England also suffer from a coach who, unlike Andy Farrell or France’s Fabien Galthie, loves the limelight and the sound of his own voice. Nobody doubts that Eddie Jones has a deep knowledge of rugby, but, if he talks as much nonsense in the dressing-room as he does to the press, it’s no wonder his players often seem confused. His selection is inconsistent and his fondness for putting players in unaccustomed positions seems to confuse them rather than the opposition.

Some of his pronouncements now amuse rather than alarm opponents: more of Eddie’s nonsense, they seem to think. His warning that Ireland would meet a level of physicality they had never known may have been responsible for a stirred-up English lock’s head-banger which saw him red-carded in the first minute of the match. Much was subsequently made of the courage with which the English forwards responded. Nevertheless, Ireland scored four tries, England none. Indeed in matches against Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France England scored only three tries which, considering the wealth of talent in the English game, is pathetic.

No matter: Jones has been given full support by his employers, the Rugby Football Union (RFU). There has been no mention of the revolving door through which assistant coaches have come and gone, principally, it seems, because they have found it difficult to work for, with, and under Jones.

Instead, we are told that it’s “the system” that accounts for England’s poor showing at the Six Nations. Well, the system in England may not be as good as that in Ireland, nor now in France where Bernard Laporte, the President of the French Rugby Union, has secured unprecedented co-operation from the clubs. Nevertheless, Jones has complete control of his players in the fortnight before the Six Nations and throughout the tournament. In this, he is in a much happier position than the Scottish and Welsh head coaches. England’s failure owes more to Jones’s own mistakes than to any deficiency in “the system”.

None of this means that England may not flourish in the World Cup next year. There are so many good English players that nothing should be beyond their reach. All they need is first-class preparation. At present, the evidence suggests that the preparation they receive from Eddie Jones is pretty poor, even third-class.