You have to feel sorry for...Max Malins

It is not the fault of Max Malins that he is not an international standard winger. He is a very, very good fly half. He is an excellent fullback. But an international winger? No, talented footballer that he is, I think it is safe to say that Malins doesn’t quite have the acceleration required for the position at that level. He is quick, no doubt, but just lacks the ability to switch on the afterburners and leave defenders in his wake.

To be fair to Malins he is not alone, having been part of an England back three that share the same problem. Freddie Steward – great under the high ball, powerful carrier, good footballer but not outstandingly quick. And Jack Nowell  - all action, great feet, high workmate, great scrummager as it turns out but, again, lacking out-and-out speed.

Coupled with an absence of penetration in the centres, England’s backs have consequently been relatively easy to defend against, with defences able to let Marcus Smith run his plays knowing that they are unlikely to be exposed out wide.

So, dropping any one of the back three for Saturday’s encounter with the French is probably the correct decision, with Malins being the unlucky one to miss out – and he really could have few complaints if Eddie Jones had replaced him with someone who offers something radically different, someone who potentially does have the X factor to set himself apart, someone like Adam Radwan, perhaps, or Ollie Hassell-Collins, or Louis Lynagh, all of whom have featured in England training squads this Six Nations, with Lynagh even travelling to France this week with the squad.

But replacing Malins with an out-of-position Freddie Steward and bringing in George Furbank – a decent enough Premiership player but still massively unproven at international level – at fullback? Will Steward be any better than Malins on the wing? Unlikely. Is Furbank anywhere near as good as Steward at fullback? Patently not. Is this a genius tactical innovation or just Eddie Jones at his perverse worst? I suspect the latter.

Which is why you have to feel sorry for Max Malins.

Total Flanker – the older I get, the better I was