amie George has no fears England are on a similar slide to 2018, when two defeats in their opening three Six Nations matches shredded their hopes of retaining the title. England mounted a meek defence of their crown three years ago, losing their final three matches and the opening two Tests of their tour to South Africa, prompting Eddie Jones to overhaul his squad before the 2019 World Cup. “It has a different feel to 2018,” says George, the Saracens hooker who like many of his colleagues went into the Six Nations less than match hardened. “We were nowhere near our best against Scotland, and while it was more like us against Italy, we were still not firing on all cylinders. “While we got a lot wrong against Wales, the feeling in the camp is that we are getting somewhere. My immediate feeling on the field in Cardiff was that we were at it more than we had been since the World Cup semi-final. We played some good stuff in attack and defence. It was more like us: we were brilliant in parts, but our discipline was not good enough.” Jones has been criticised for largely sticking with the same players who served him in the last World Cup, but he has yet to use the Six Nations as a time to experiment, with France up next at Twickenham next Saturday. “Nothing has changed in that we were always going to have to beat France and Ireland, two of the most dangerous teams in the Six Nations, to win it again,” says George. “We are desperate to finish the campaign with two victories and we want to be a confrontational team. That brings penalties, but it was the avoidable ones which cost us against Wales. “I do not know what effect missing the last round will have on France, but we will be hurting and intent on putting in a serious performance. People said we looked off the pace against Scotland, but physically we were in good shape and it was just the way the game panned out. I am not sure that a lack of match fitness is an issue given the way teams train.” George expects his club colleague Maro Itoje to make up for his performance in Cardiff when he was responsible for more than a third of the penalties conceded by England, including the one that gave Wales the chance to regain the lead after the champions had fought back to 24-24. “Maro is one of the best players in the world,” says George, “competitive and confrontational. He will learn his lessons and on a different day some of the penalties against him might not have been given, we win and he is named man of the match. It is a fine line and you cannot take away from his intensity or the way he plays the game.”