Jack Nowell: England must learn lessons 'quickly' before Six Nations and World Cup
- Published
England face Japan at Twickenham on Saturday following defeat to Argentina
England must stop repeating the same mistakes or risk failing at next year's Six Nations and Rugby World Cup, vice-captain Jack Nowell has warned.
Eddie Jones' side lost 30-29 to Argentina last Sunday, a sixth defeat in ten matches this year.
Nowell, 29, says England need to be learning their lessons "quite quickly".
"The frustrating thing from the weekend is they are the same messages we have been saying over the past year or so," he told BBC 5 live.
"Scotland away [in February], the penalty count lost us the game. Australia first Test [in July], the penalty count let them back into the game. These are the lessons we need to be learning and learning quite quickly."
The Exeter back added: "Before we know it we will come into the Six Nations and you can't lose a game then to kick yourself forward. It's the same in the World Cup, you can't be losing games in your group.
"We need to start learning now."
However, Nowell, who has taken increased leadership responsibilities this campaign, says a meeting at the start of the week has helped clear the air before Saturday's crunch game with Japan at Twickenham.
"It is always a concern, but we aren't looking at each other thinking why aren't we winning these games - we know why we are not winning," he explained.
"So it's up to us players to own it a little bit more, but we had some good conversations about it yesterday with a few boys holding their hands up knowing that it's not good enough for the team."
'Japan deserve respect'
Meanwhile, Nowell says England cannot afford to take Japan lightly, as was the case the last time the teams met in 2018.
England trailed the Blossoms 15-10 at half-time before rallying to win 35-15, although the likes of Zach Mercer and Alex Lozowski haven't played for their country since.
Japan went on to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in 2019, taking the scalps of Scotland and Ireland in the process.
"A lot of things happened in that first half and maybe as a team we didn't give Japan the respect they deserve," said Nowell, who started at outside-centre that day.
"You have got to give them the respect and [you can't] let them play the way they want to play - which is pretty much what we did in the first half.
"But at the same time it is not about just trying to cope with what they have got, it's about letting them cope with what we've got.
"We can't just wait for the scoreboard [to be against us] - we have to be brave enough to have a go."
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