Jones insists he can take England forward despite Barbarians humiliation

Eddie Jones has insisted he can still reverse England’s fortunes in Australia after suffering a humiliating record defeat by the 14-man Barbarians, which heaps the pressure on the head coach before the series against the Wallabies next month.

Compounding matters for the head coach, Jones faces a number of injury headaches and a potential crisis at No8 before naming his touring squad on Monday morning after the heaviest defeat of his tenure. England went down 52-21 to the invitational side and the home side had to suffer the embarrassment of watching George Kruis backheel a conversion through the posts.

Jones lost Alex Dombrandt to a knee injury on Friday and though he will see a specialist on Monday he has to be considered unlikely to tour. In addition, Sam Simmonds has already been ruled out and Jones revealed that Billy Vunipola was in contention for a call-up, only to suffer a concussion in Saturday’s Premiership final. George Ford is another likely to be ruled out after sustaining a knee injury in Leicester’s triumph on Saturday.

It means Jones is set to name a squad with a raft of senior players missing with Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi and Kyle Sinckler already sidelined for the three-Test tour, which begins in Perth on 2 July. He also has calls to make on Ben Youngs and Joe Marler but should they both be omitted, Jones will be without a wealth of experience.

In addition, England’s travel plans have been hit with the squad having to travel in four different groups due to a lack of available flights, meaning the whole touring party will not be together until Thursday. Jones, however, sought to play down the significance of the defeat by the Barbarians, which follows a disappointing Six Nations defeats by Ireland and