Time is of the essence for England with less than ten days to go until their Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland next Saturday but new skipper Dylan Hartley insists there is no need for panic.
Eddie Jones only had his first training session with his new charges on Monday and the new head coach will only have seven sessions in total before they head to BT Murrayfield.
But Hartley, speaking at the 2016 RBS 6 Nations launch at Hurlingham on Wednesday, insists his side will be ready for battle next Saturday in the Scottish capital.
“We are short on time but I fully believe that we are capable of doing it and we can put in the work and get ourselves ready,” he said.
“There’s different ways to look at how quickly we can get to the level we need to. The first way is to look at the technical things.
“There’s plenty of things we can work on in that regard. Striking of the ball, kick off receipts, getting those pods in the air and excellence in the lineout.
“Then there is the other side of it which is instilling the mindset into the guys in two weeks and making them as sharp as possible.”
Jones has already selected his matchday 23 for the trip to Scotland – opting to keep faith with much of Stuart Lancaster’s side that finished runners up in the last four RBS 6 Nations.
There are fresh call-ups for the likes of Paul Hill, Ollie Devoto and Jack Clifford – the trio appear likely to make their debuts from the bench – but continuity is the key when time is short.
Honeymoon period for Jones
And while Jones has been impressed with how receptive his squad have been to his new ideas, the Australian is not naive enough to think that this will always be the case.
“We’ll be a work in progress but clearly our aim will be to beat Scotland and to win the RBS 6 Nations,” he added.
“At the moment we are on honeymoon, aren’t we? Everything is nice, everyone is nice to each other.
“If you’ve been married longer than 20 years, you know a honeymoon doesn’t last. You’ve got to try and make your marriage work. And we’ll make this marriage work.”
Click here for TV coverage and the full fixture list for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations