With what has felt like years since we have heard the chants of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ booming around Twickenham, international rugby is back with a bang. The Autumn Internationals in the coming weeks promise exciting matches for England, led by Eddie Jones, on home turf in front of home crowds. However, with varying results in recent international tournaments, what can we expect from the England squad this time around?

Across the three weeks, England will face strong competition from Tonga, Australia, and South Africa, with England hoping to reassert their dominance on an international stage after having a disappointing run in the 2021 Six Nations, scraping a 5th place finish.

In a hope to “regenerate and rejuvenate” the side, Head Coach Eddie Jones has made drastic changes to the squad, choosing a more youthful and less experienced squad over some more capped players. Notable player omissions include the Saracens duo Billy and Mako Vunipola despite their excellent performance against Bath seeing a 71-17 rout only last week. Further omissions of George Ford and Jamie George exemplify Jones’ idea of regenerating the squad.

Nic Dolly, Mark Atkinson, Tommy Freeman and Raffi Quirke, form the quartet of new kids, with this being Dolly and Freeman’s first call-up to the senior ranks. Sceptics of Jones have argued these inexperienced players demonstrate further his poor decision-making, as such drastic changes ahead of international tournaments haven’t worked well for him in the past. Most notably, the pruning of English mainstays like Dylan Hartley, Ben Te’o, and Chris Robshaw in the 12 months before the 2019 Japan World Cup which eventually saw England fall at the final hurdle.

But after Wales’ performance in the Six Nations, with newbie Louis Rees-Zammit as the shining star of the tournament, perhaps Jones is hoping to recreate a similar formula for success.  

On the matter, Eddie Jones told Rugby World “This is a young but very good, talented squad who have all earned their places. It’s one of the most competitive squads I’ve ever picked.”

A competitive squad is exactly what both England and Jones need right now, as after a disappointing Six Nations, another failure of a tournament would certainly bring his leadership into question.

Hopefully England’s success in the Autumn Nations Cup last year will bring some confidence to play. Although, one player that is not looking to recreate his performance from last year is Captain Owen Farrell, who had a shaky final missing a few too many conversions. Either way, England has some challenging Test matches ahead. Firstly, Tonga always promises some physical and strong game play, which will test England.

In addition, with the Wallabies coming into the internationals from a four-match win streak over the summer, they will put up a good fight against the Home Nation.

Finally, one of the most anticipated fixtures, the rematch between England and South Africa. South Africa head to the Northern Hemisphere as the world’s best side according to World Rugby Rankings and look to recreate their 32-12 victory over England in the World Cup.

But with test matches starting this week, there’s little time until we find out whether Eddie Jones’ new squad will be strong enough to compete against some of the best teams in tournament. All that is certain is you are not going to want to miss out on the tournament ahead.  

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