Legitimate target

England v Ireland: Jonny Sexton will be targeted - Eddie Jones, BBC Sport

The cold dark months of Winter are not my favourite months but a few things make February more bearable. The days are drawing out, the garden is preparing to burst into life and we have the Six Nations.

An ancient Briton by birth, I am not without some English blood in my veins which makes the performance of the England rugby team all the more disappointing with their "winning is everything" attitude to the game. Perhaps it is because they give the impression that they always deserve to win that they appear so arrogant. The depths of their financial and human resources indicate as much but better a good game than win at all costs. In such circumstances the real losers are obvious.

Regrettably England's new coach Eddie Jones is from the England mould. His interview for BBC Sport is a new low in English rugby. Teams want to win but not so obviously at any price. Jones admits that his attitude is to be "physical, fair and brutal" with emphasis on the brutal - so long as it is legal! Brutality: cruel, harsh, and usually violent treatment of another person.

He says Ireland's Johnny Sexton will be a 'legitimate target' during Saturday's Six Nations match at Twickenham, as was England's fly-half Jonny Wilkinson when Jones coached Australia.

Eddie Jones' attitude to the game has made himself a legitimate target. England should send him back to the Southern hemisphere where he belongs taking his brutality with him.