I fear Eddie will revert to old guard in autumn | Nick Cain

BETTER late than never. Eddie Jones has finally rattled the cage in selection, at last making changes that should have happened soon after the 2019 World Cup.

One of my main criticisms of Jones has been the stasis in selection which has been a recurring theme during his six-year tenure as England head coach. Fast Eddie has been painfully slow when it comes to injecting true competition for places into his England equation, allowing too many players the sinecure of certain selection when their form has not merited it.

Last season, it reached a low point with hardened campaigners like Jamie George, Mako and Billy Vunipola, Kyle Sinckler, Owen Farrell, George Ford, and Elliot Daly still picked despite being off the pace, and well below their best.

It contributed to a fifth place finish in the Six Nations which led to Jones having to explain his strategy for the two-year run-up to the 2023 World Cup to a faceless RFU panel. The ‘no-names' opted for a ‘Carry On Eddie' message which appears to have contained the proviso that he must freshen-up his squad. Jones has played the game by axing a handful of big names and picking a horde of new youngsters for England's opening three-day training camp at the Lensbury club which finishes on Tuesday.

Out go George, the Vunipola brothers, Ford and Daly, and, maintaining continuity from the summer wins over second tier opponents USA and Canada, a transfusion of fresh blood has flooded into the squad.

Nine new caps from the summer fixtures are included, and the England coach has added a further troop of eight uncapped players, with Harlequins starlets Louis Lynagh and Jack Kenningham accompanied by Gabriel Oghre, Raffi Quirke, Sam Riley, Bevan Rodd and Ollie Sleightholme.

The only new old lag is Mark Atkinson, 31, the straight-running Gloucester inside-centre, who Jones hopes will help to address a midfield riddle that he has yet to solve. It is a surprising call up given that Ollie Devoto's strong form for Exeter last season, and continues the chopping-and-changing in midfield.

The true measure of the 45-man selection for this short training camp is how much of it is window-dressing, and how much stays in the main shop display when the autumn series is in closer view. Will the 17 newcomers become regular fixtures, or will they be surplus to requirements and be replaced by more familiar names?

Jones has presented the new squad as being a watershed as he enters his last two years as Red Rose head coach.

However, he hedged his bets when he said: “It is the last chapter for me, the last two years, and I've never been so excited in my life. After the Lions tour you draw a bit of a line in the sand, because then you're into the two years before the World Cup. We've got five campaigns, and each time we pick the squad we want it to be a bit stronger.”

Jones' tenor indicated that he has been given assurances already through to France 2023 – which is contrary to the impression given by RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney six months ago that the head coach's continuing tenure would depend on England's autumn showing against Tonga, Aus- tralia, and South Africa.

That would be premature, not least because Sweeney and his advisers – RFU highperformance director Conor O'Shea, among them – have had the opportunity to put in place a Plan B in terms of coaching succession should Jones' team continue its downhill trajectory. It is no good if you make your main objective the success of the England team, including becoming world champions again, as Sweeney has, if you have handcuffed yourself financially and contractually to a coach who appears unable to deliver those goals.

Sweeney is banking on Jones using his experience, coaching nous, and on-off inspirational track-record at international level to bring England storming back this autumn.

However, although England should have the measure of Tonga, the assignments against the resurgent Australia and the world champion Springboks are daunting – especially if Jones is in the process of rebuilding large sections of his team with inexperienced players.

“Will the 17 newcomers become regular fixtures, or will they be surplus to requirements”

It is why, come the autumn, you can bank on the England starting 23 being largely unchanged when it comes to the serious business.

The most likely promotions will be in the back three if Leicester full-back Freddie Steward and Newcastle flyer Adam Radwan remain jet-propelled from now until November. Otherwise, apart from a few vital tweaks, such as Marcus Smith at fly-half and his Quins colleague Alex Dombrandt finally getting a chance at No.8, the starting line-up will probably be overwhelmingly familiar: Malins; May, Tuilagi, Farrell (capt), Watson; Smith, Youngs; Marler, Cowan-Dickie, Sinckler, Itoje, J Hill, Lawes, Curry, Dombrandt.

As for the bench, don't bank on the continued absence of George, the Vunipolas, Ford, or Daly, if they respond positively to their temporary exile.

It has taken two years too long, but the good news is that Jones has at last introduced competition for places into his squad.

Whether it is genuinely competitive enough to generate the dynamism to see off the Wallabies and Springboks should be the acid test of whether Jones remains in place.

The issue is that if Fast Eddie falters it looks unlikely that the RFU has an alternative plan in place.

NICK CAIN