The panel concluded that while there were a number of contributing factors that led to England's disappointing fifth place ranking in the Guinness Six Nations and the focus will be on addressing these systemic challenges, there were some specific factors that had an influence on the 2021 Guinness Six Nations tournament as follows:
• Coaching – the absence of Jason Ryles and Neil Craig were a significant loss in coaching expertise and team support, this had a significant impact on the wider coaching team. The initial unavailability of Matt Proudfoot and isolation of Eddie Jones also had an affect on the effectiveness of the coaching team.
• Player preparation and availability – several players did not have enough game time going into the Guinness Six Nations. Conversely a wider group were fatigued as a result of being the only country to have back-to-back seasons; resulting in players having no mental break from one season to the next. In addition, a handful of notable players were unavailable.
• Breakdown indiscipline – improvements required including lower body strength and appropriate skill modifications.
• Covid – the necessary stringent protocols, in some cases greater than other Unions, had a significant impact on coaching and support staff as well as the playing squad cohesion.
• Squad transition – the agreed protocols, which the RFU and Eddie were fully supportive of due to Covid challenges, meant fixed squads prevented players coming in and out during the campaign as they would normally.
