What is it about England summer tours to the other side of the equator? They start off in hope, with a smattering of trepidation, and end up, for the most part, in embarrassing failure. Since that night of nights in Sydney in 2003 when England reached their pinnacle, no fewer than 17 Test matches have been contested away to the big three.In all that time, amid all that endeavour and pain, the chaps with the red roses on their jerseys have managed to come up with just one win and a draw. Martin Johnsons tourists squeaked past Australia in Sydney in 2010, beating the Wallabies 21-20. Two year later, Stuart Lancasters men drew 14-14 in Port Elizabeth against South Africa. Australia will miss prop Sekope Kepu, who is playing in France for Bordeaux-Begles The same old excuses get wheeled out every time. England are knackered after a long, hard season. Too many of their first-choice players have been knocking seven bells out of each other in big domestic finals. Theyve flown through eleven time zones and havent had enough time to prepare.This year, however, I truly believe things will be different.For a start, the Aussies are almost certainly going to be missing a number of their big stars from the World Cup. Michael Chekika has said hes unlikely to pick players who are based in France. That means the following ought to be unavailable: Matt Giteau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell, Will Genia and the prop Sekope Kepu, who was instrumental in helping to turn the Australian scrum into such a potent force last autumn. Eddie Jones discusses the abrasive Michael Cheika Meanwhile, back in Oz, World Cup openside Michael Hooper has been ranked as only the fifth best No 7 in the country by former national coach Bob Dwyer. Furthermore, apart from the Melbourne Rebels, the other Aussie franchises are not exactly dazzling anyone at the moment in Super Rugby.England, on the other hand, are in a very good place. They are champions of the northern hemisphere and had three sides in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup. Sarries could yet win the thing. Talking of Saracens, England also possess arguably the best second row in the northern hemisphere in Maro Itoje and George Kruis. Their No 8 Billy Vunipola just missed out on being chosen as the Six Nations player of the tournament. Manu Tuilagi is getting back to his best Oh yeah, and at Leicester Manu Tuilagi is back to full fitness and scattering opponents about the park like skittles in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.England are also in a good place psychologically thanks to Eddie Jones. He clearly knows the right buttons to press and how make the most of Englands traditional strengths. In all my time of watching training, I have also never seen the guys pushed as hard as they were in February and March.Jones has also spoken about wanting to go back to his native land and emulate the England cricketers on the Ashes tour of 1932/33. That was the notorious Bodyline Series when Douglas Jardine and co. set about battering Don Bradman out of his comfort zone. Eighty three years later, Jones wants England to be ruthless up front, to earn the right to spread the ball and play rugby.You may accuse me of being unduly optimistic, or for having partied too hard with Martin Castrogiovanni in Vegas, but I believe England can be really competitive in the forthcoming three Test series.A lot will depend on the injury count at the business end of the season, and whether or not we get any more acts of gross stupidity to trouble the disciplinarians, but it could be that England are about to add some long overdue victories to that solitary win in 17 attempts since their World Cup triumph. Watch Englands tour to Australia on Sky Sports. Catch the first Test for £6.99 with a NOW TV day pass. Also See: Wallabies could rest players No England sourness for Rowntree Tomane to miss England clash Follow @SkySportsRugby Hydro Flask Deals Online . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Hydro Flask Water Bottle Wholesale . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. http://www.hydroflasksalenearme.com/ . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. Hydro Flask With Straw Sale . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Hydro Flask Outlet . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NBA remains the best among its professional sports peers when it comes diversity hiring.According to the report released Thursday by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the NBA received an A-plus for the second year in a row for racial hiring and dropped to a B in gendering hiring practices. The leagues overall grade of A was its eighth in row as the NBA scored higher than other professional sports league in all three categories.Reports are also issued on the NFL, MLB, MLS, WNBA and college sports.The NBA has been the leaders in pretty much both areas since weve been doing the report card and they are still ahead of everybody even in gender, said Richard Lapchick, who authors the Racial and Gender Report Card released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The NFL had a C-plus last year and MLB had a C-plus. MLS is the only one close with a B but they only had 80.1 points as opposed to the 83.7 the NBA has got. College sport was the worst of all with 78.8 points with a C-plus.Even in maintaining the best stands, the NBA did some dips in diversity hiring practices with the biggest coming in gender hiring. The NBA went from a B-plus grade in gendering hiring in 2015 to a B this year with drops coming at the team levels and senior leadership positions. In 2015, the NBA scored 88 points but this year only received 83.7 points on the report card.Women comprised 39.6 percent of all professionals in the NBA league offices in this past season, which was slightly down from 40.9 percent iin 2015.dddddddddddd But women continued to hold just a small percentage of team vice president positions, comprising just 21.5 percent of the team vice president titles. Still, there were five women who served as team presidents/CEO during the 2015-6 season, which is the highest of any mens professional sport.The fact there was sort of slippage with the NBA, not only was the grade low but there was actually a decline in the grade is definitely an area of concern, Lapchick said of the overall dip in gendering hiring. I think its particularly an area concern at the team level and senior leadership positions.The NBA, which is the first sports league to have two minorities as majority owners, also had small loses in the number of head coaches and general managers of color this year. The number of general managers went from six in 2014-15 to just four this past season. The head coaching ranks were comprised of 30 percent of men of color, as opposed to 33.3 percent at the end of the 2014-15 season.This past season began with nine head coaches of color but while some minority coaches lost their jobs during the season that number remained at nine at the end of the season.The NBA has gotten it for a long time, including the general manager position, although this year they were down at the general manager position, Lapchick said. They have been far and away the leader of all of the sports in those areas. ' ' '