Jones blames private schools for English rugby's woes

England head coach Eddie Jones has pinpointed the reliance on privately educated players as a source of weakness in the country's rugby culture and called for the system to be "blown up."

Jones, England coach since late 2015, told 'The i' newspaper that privately educated players struggle to embrace the mantle of leadership and are often psychologically ill-equipped to turn the tide when games are going against them.

Jones' England side, containing seven privately educated players in the starting XV for the third test, defeated Australia 2-1 in this summer's test series down under, a timely success after a couple of underwhelming years.

"They are good, tough players. They work hard but they only know what they know," Jones said. "If you have only been in a system where you get to 15, you have a bit of rugby ability and then go to Harrow. Then for two years you do nothing but play rugby, everything's done for you. That's the reality. You have this closeted life.

"When things go to crap on the field who’s going to lead because these blokes have never had experience of it? I see that as a big thing. When we are on the front foot we are the best in the world. When we are not on the front foot our ability to find a way to win, our resolve, is not as it should be.

"There is this desire to be polite and so winning is seen as a bit uncouth. 'We have to play the game properly, old chap.’

"It’s the way the players are educated. I’ve been here seven years now and I’ve never seen kids in a park playing touch football (rugby). Never. Zero. In the southern hemisphere they are all doing that, developing their skills. Here you see them playing football, but never touch football.

"That’s the problem. It’s all formal coaching, in a formal