Underdogs.

Eddie Jones says no one thinks England can retain their Six Nations title this year, despite the fact that they are favourites to win it with every bookmaker.

The Australian is chasing an unprecedented third title in a row, but has been struck down with a number of injuries ahead of their opener against Italy.

Speaking following his squad announcement yesterday, Jones says it was the most difficult squad he’s ever had to put together.

“We’ve got 13 players out, we’ve got no hope,” Jones said sarcastically yesterday.

“This [squad] is version 26,”

“I was still on it at 10.30pm last night, finalising it. It has been one of the most difficult to put together because of the various situations with players.”

“I’m really happy with it, excited by our prospects of doing well particularly as been written off. No one thinks we can win the Six Nations so we have got an opportunity to hunt the other teams down.”

Jones says while their aim is still to win the Six Nations, they’ve got a Rugby World Cup plan in place at the same time.

“Our aim is to win the Six Nations,” Jones said.

“We feel like we’ve got a good enough team to win the Six Nations but at the same time we’ve got a World Cup plan in place. Part of this camp will be about getting players right. The first part of the camp will be fairly untraditional for us. We’ll treat it as a mini preseason and we won’t start the team training until Thursday and Friday.”