This is why sports psychologists are so damn important and yet it seems so often overlooked. The physical attributes of the players is only half the battle, they need to be mentally up for it, and England too often just do not look fired up for games. When was the last game England really looked like they wanted to get stuck into their opponents? Probably the 2019 WC semi against NZ and in the warm up game against Ireland going into that. Too often our players just don't look like they give a damn. You look at teams that have stayed at the top, they very rarely completely capitulate like that even when well beaten.
So many teams get fired up for England and yet who do we actually get fired up for? The only "must beat" team for England is the ABs, and even then it's only occasionally we turn up. When Jones first took over is the only time since 2003 I can think of when England went on a sustained period of actually turning up to games, being absolutely brutal and fighting right to the bitter end. Players gave it their all. Now we frequently see players giving up on a chase, not even bothering to drift to close a defensive gap, standing by watching as a ruck gets turned over, not absolutely legging it to support a break. Too many players just seem to be in cruise control and it's infuriating. If we were losing but trying our best you'd say fair enough, there wasn't anything more to give but these players look like they have so much more to give but can't get fired up enough to bother.
