New England coach Eddie Jones will be prevented from making wholesale squad changes.

The former Japan coach officially began his stint on Tuesday and will only have a month before he is required to name his squad for the upcoming Six Nations. A mammoth task in itself, given the short time frame he has to work with the players, is made harder by the RFU’s current elite player squad agreement which allows the England coach to make a maximum number of 10 changes from one squad to the next. Although always unlikely that Jones would clean house, these conditions will add some pressure to his first task at the helm.

Jones will find some breathing room with Sam Burgess’s recent return to rugby league. The new England boss will therefore be allowed to make 11 changes to the squad which did duty at the 2015 World Cup.

England get their 2016 Six Nations campaign under way on 6 February against Scotland in Edinburgh.

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