Manu Tuilagi. Photo / Greg Bowker
Eddie Jones has issued Manu Tuilagi with a final warning over his behaviour on England duty after he was sent home in disgrace from a training camp last month.
Jones revealed he had held showdown talks with Tuilagi over the latest breach of discipline by the Leicester centre, who was ejected from the Australian's squad following a late-night drinking session with Sale wing Denny Solomona.
Confirming the pair's exiles would end in time for England's autumn internationals provided their "attitude is right", Jones nevertheless warned one more misdemeanor would see Tuilagi "spending a lot more time in the Midlands".
Jones said: "Everyone talks about previous records but he's only done it once with me.
"If he does it again then he'll maybe spending a lot more time in the Midlands."
Jones also revealed Dylan Hartley would start England's next training camp in Oxford later this month as captain but may not end the year with the armband.
Hartley's place in the side is under serious threat after he failed to make the squad for this summer's Lions tour to New Zealand, where former understudy Jamie George started all three Tests at hooker.
Confirming his captain must be a guaranteed starter, saying he "can't have Mike Brierley", Jones added: "It's literally a series-by-series appointment - and he [Hartley] knows that. He understands that."
Despite being unable to guarantee Hartley the armband, Jones was full of praise for the job the 31-year-old had done since being appointed captain two years ago.
The decision by Jones was a major gamble given Hartley's appalling disciplinary record and the England boss revealed it provoked a major backlash.
"I remember when we named Dylan Hartley as captain, the RFU got a stack of letters," he said.
"One of the prominent public schools threatened to pull out of rugby, because they thought, 'How can you put this lunatic in charge of the national team?'
"He is a lunatic, but a nice lunatic. Nice lunatics are good to run a team.
"He knows the value of how hard he has to work and, because he leads like that, it sets a great example for the rest of the team.
"Now there's at least four or five players who mimic his behavior and we are starting to get a tipping point in the team where, if you don't come to the England team and give 100 per cent, give it all, then you aren't going to be part of the team."
Asked whether other players in the squad had those same qualities, Jones replied: "In time, yes. Definitely. Definitely. It's all about timing."
Speaking at the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester, Jones drew comparisons between the England rugby and football teams, attacking the negativity surrounding the latter's prospects of success at next summer's World Cup.
"It's interesting to me as an Australian listening to the English talk about football," he said.
"It's almost like everyone is saying, 'We're gonna fail, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if we qualify, we're gonna fail, so who really cares?'
"And players hear that. Players hear that, their father, mother hears it, their girlfriend hears it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"What they've got to do try to break that in some way, get some other messages out there, change it."