Brendan Gallagher verdict: Thanks to Saracens, Eddie has turned England into natural-born winners

The thing about winning, like any addiction, is that you can’t live without it.  You can’t function properly without that regular fix. It becomes your raison d’etre and in rugby unless the opposition can match that intensity they will be in trouble.
New Zealand are the ultimate winning junkies but England under Eddie Jones are showing every sign of matching the All Blacks in their hunger and need be best.
Perhaps that seems obvious but England haven’t given off those vibes since 2003. They travelled to Dublin in 2011 and Cardiff in 2013 with Grand Slams at stake but with little conviction. Defeat in both games had a certain inevitability. They made the journeys in hope not expectation.
So what’s changed? Jones has obviously been the biggest factor but it would be easy to overlook the influence of another seminal factor in this team, namely double champions Saracens.
Everywhere you look you see Saracens winners. Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell, Billy and Mako Vunipola, George Kruis and  Jamie George while Paul Gustard and Steve Borthwick have been key signings among the backroom staff.
That playing core of England reminds me of another great England team in which the rump of the team had virtually forgotten how to lose at club level. Leicester and England circa 2002-2003.
The era of Martin Johnson, Ben Kay, Neil Back, Lewis Moody, Martin Corry, Julian White and Dorian West. You could also add Will Greenwood who spent four years at Welford Road with most of those mentioned. Great teams are often constructed around such a group.
Compare with this current Saracens crop who in the last six months have won the Aviva Premiership and become the first side in European Cup history to go through the entire tournament unbeaten. Eat your heart out Toulouse, Toulon and Munster.
Running parallel with that has been a Six Nations Grand Slam and this historic 3-0 England series win in Australia. This is the stuff of legends, this will still constitute a chapter in the history books in 50 years time.
Itoje hasn’t lost a single game of rugby in which he has started this season.
Yesterday was No.26 and that’s a statistic that will appear even more remarkable in years to come.
Winning against the best is absolutely the norm for this young giant who also starred in two successful campaigns for England at Junior World Cups and, early in his first season, captained Saracens to victory in the A-League. Is there anybody playing senior rugby in the world at present who has less experience of losing. Winning for Itoje is as normal and natural as eating and drinking.
Carry that mindset through and you have a totem pole player who will expect to win when he lines up against the All Blacks when England next meet New Zealand in the autumn of 2017. And that, of course, is half the battle against the All Blacks.
Farrell is another of the same ilk whose strident success at club level has elevated his Test career to another level. He has become a Wilkinsonesque kicker landing 23 out of 26 shots at goal in this series, finishing off with two consecutive 24-point hauls.
The earth shifts a little on its axis these days if Farrell misses a kick at goal and even when he does I can’t recall any current player who bounces back better.
A rare failure makes no difference to his routine and confidence. Factor in his aggressive defence at 12 and maturing attacking and passing game and you have pretty much the complete package, a world-class player who you would back against anybody.
The Vunipolas meanwhile have morphed from promising and raw to accomplished and expert. Both had accusing fingers pointed at them over fitness and both have responded in the best possible way. Unexpected cheekbones have emerged on their chiselled faces, like blowing away at an archaeological dig.
No longer do they have to be taken off early or be used merely as impact players in the second half. Mako’s scrummaging has improved out of all recognition while he carries and scavenges like a back-row player. He could do a very passable imitation of Billy in the back-row.
Billy has matured apace under Jones who sees him as one of the team’s go-to players and personalities.
With that backing he has blossomed almost game on game. Starting the brothers together has also spurred them on with both their loyalty to each other, and an innate rivalry, driving them onto bigger things.
Kruis is another who has learned to just find a way of winning whatever it takes. He has been a phenomenal work horse this year for club and country and at times recently has looked like he might be running on empty but he can’t kick that winning habit.
Jamie George is much fresher after his late season injury break but plays with the carefree confidence of somebody not frightened of losing.
How much longer can this unstoppable winning momentum continue? It’s a valid question. That is the one big unknown for this new England which feels so different to recent sides.
We know that New Zealand operate for ever and a day at this level of intensity while England have managed only briefly, under Clive Woodward in his last two-to-three seasons in charge. The challenge is there for Jones and it will be fascinating in the coming months to see how he man-manages his natural born winners.