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No world class England players since Wilkinson, says Jones

By Mitch Phillips BAGSHOT, England (Reuters) - England have not produced a world class player since Jonny Wilkinson but several of the current crop are making steady progress towards such lofty heights, according to coach Eddie Jones. England under Jones have won 11 games in a row, including their first Six Nations grand slam for 13 years, a three-test series win in Australia and their first victory over South Africa since 2006. They could complete an unbeaten calendar year with victories over Argentina on Saturday and Australia a week later, yet Jones insisted on Thursday that they are still a long way from where they need to be and delivered a damning indictment of player culture under previous regimes. "Since 2003 there’s been only one world class player produced and that's Jonny Wilkinson," said Jones, who as coach of Australia was on the wrong side of the last-gasp drop goal by England's record points scorer that won the 2003 World Cup final. "There hasn’t been the desire here from the players to really push themselves to be great. Now we have a number of players who want to be part of a great team and be great players themselves." Asked how they could elevate themselves above the merely "very good", Jones said it was up to the individuals to want it and not something to be coached into them. "They have to work that bit harder and pay attention to things," he said. "Eat the right food do the right recovery, that sort of thing. "It’s about what you do when the coach isn’t there that’s important. Do you go back to your room and fall asleep and play with your iPad or do you have a stretch and drink a glass of water so you’re hydrated the next day? "They are doing the right things and their growing assertiveness and growing desire to get better is fantastic." Jones's decision to make Dylan Hartley captain has paid off handsomely but so too has his less heralded installation of Mike Brown, Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola as vice-captains. One of the key strengths of the 2003 team under Clive Woodward was the spine of leadership with players such Wilkinson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Matt Dawson and Will Greenwood backing up captain Martin Johnson. England, helped of course by a great winning run, are starting to develop a similar depth and Jones is delighted by their progress since he took over from Stuart Lancaster a year ago. "We've got three or four guys now who will always do the right thing and another five or six on the footsteps of always doing the right thing so we’re starting to get that density of leaders that are going to create a great team," he said. "We’ve got guys starting to perform to eight out of 10, every game and when you do that you start to become world class." (Editing by Toby Davis)