This England side can make history - Hodgson

England’s ‘sky high’ confidence gives them a great chance to make history in Australia, says former fly-half Charlie Hodgson.

Hodgson, who retired from rugby at the end of a double winning campaign with Saracens this season, accumulated 38 caps for his country over a 16 year playing career.

The former Sale Sharks man feels the Grand Slam triumph and the recent victory over Wales is the perfect platform for Eddie Jones’ side to upset the odds when they face Australia in the three match test series which begins on Saturday.

“He [Jones] couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Hodgson said. “Their confidence is sky high heading into this series with Australia.

“Six wins from six is the perfect start and the excitement building in that squad is a huge. They will be in a buoyant mood and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be.”

England have won only three matches in 17 attempts in Australia and have never won in Brisbane where the first test will take place this weekend.

But Hodgson believes that England can re-write the history books, but does feel that this will be Eddies Jones’ toughest test yet due to the success of the Six Nations.

“England will be playing against a very strong team, but records are there to be broken, Hodgson told TRU. “England will want to write themselves into history and they are certainly good enough to do that.

“People probably didn’t expect too much from the team before the Six Nations after what happened in the World Cup, but the side probably surpassed their expectations by winning the Six Nations.

“In one sense, that might have been the easiest challenge for Eddie Jones and now the side have a lot more expectation on themselves and everyone else expects as well. Going to Brisbane where England haven’t won for what seems like forever is going to be a massive challenge for them.”

England geared up for this three match series with Australia by beating Wales 27-13 at Twickenham just under two weeks ago, but rather than the spotlight being on the victory, it was on fly-half George Ford.

Eddie Jones was furious that the attention was on Ford - who had missed a number of kicks during the match - rather than the five tries his side had scored and Hodgson echoed this point and insisted that the options England have at Number 10 are excellent.

“George Ford missing a few kicks in one game doesn’t make him a bad kicker – I proved that as well!” added Hodgson. “You have those days where things don’t go well for you, but at the same time there were positives for him and of course the team.

“To score five tries against Wales who do have one of the best defences around should’ve been the talking point from that game.

“Eddie has shown a lot of faith in George in the Six Nations and against Wales, whether he will change that for Australia, I don’t know. He has great competition with Owen (Farrell) who has had a great season so you can’t really have any qualms with who he is going to pick to be honest”

Hodgson played alongside Farrell as Saracens won the European Cup and the Premiership this season which he says was the perfect end to his playing career.

“I really enjoyed this year!”, he added. “It was great way to end my final season.

“I owe a lot to the team. We have a great group of players and brilliant people working at the club and it was a pleasure to be part of the success this season.”