Eddie Jones’s gamble with a callow backline is risking his own future

Backs against the wall, endless personnel reshuffles, constant talk about things coming good eventually. England are currently 12,000 miles away from Downing Street but their series against Australia is at a not dissimilar crossroads. Lose heavily on Saturday and, as in Westminster, public confidence in those in charge back in London may ebb away rapidly.

Which is why Eddie Jones’s callow backline selection for the allegedly crucial second Test against the Wallabies has raised more than a few eyebrows. Three starting 21-year-olds, a 19-year-old “apprentice” on the bench and a debutant who used to captain the University of Sydney? If England’s absolute priority is to win right here, right now then the team sheet does not obviously reflect it.

Best wishes, of course, to the talented Jack van Poortvliet, Tommy Freeman and Guy Porter on the occasion of their first England starts, but their collective promotion at the expense of more seasoned alternatives only makes sense through the hazy prism of next year’s World Cup. It would also clearly give the management more breathing space if people can be persuaded a major Test series defeat is no big deal because youth development is the primary aim.

Imagine an England cricket captain trying to sell that idea midway through a still-undecided Ashes series in Australia. He would be laughed out of the bottle shop. Of course, there might be future benefits in promoting Freeman now and starting the Leicester pair of Van Poortvliet and Porter ahead of their Harlequins rivals Danny Care and Joe Marchant but, should it result in a fifth straight loss under Jones, the renewed promises of Vegemite tomorrow will wear even thinner.

It must also be sapping the morale of the players to see so