Jones bemoans lack of leadership

Cape Town - England coach Eddie Jones has lamented the lack of leadership in his England squad weeks before the start of the Six Nations.

When asked if there are any other options to replace current controversial skipper Dylan Hartley, Jones said there wasn't an abundance.

"There's not many," Jones told reporters.

Jones went onto say that the lack of leadership has been an issue for him during his tutelage of the side but that Hartley was improving in the role.

"Oh 100 per cent, that's one of our great keys going forward.

"Apart from working on the fundamental skills and increasing the depth of the squad, one thing we need to do is increase the leadership density of the team. That's a big project going forward.

"Dylan Hartley is moving in the right direction.

"In the autumn we would have given him five out of 10, in terms of ready to play, and now he's about a seven out of 10.

"Given that he has a good couple of days of training in our camp in Portugal I'd anticipate him being in the reckoning for the first Test team.

"I'll have a look at him on Monday and Tuesday."