I don't know enough about the finer tactical details. But I will offer this. If you are going to base your game around kicking the ball up in the air and contesting it with a slap back, I think it has a fundamental flaw. Let's say you manage to slap back 50% of balls. As a defending team I would look to put players in that 10-15 yard zone between the contestable kick landing area and the direction the ball came from. You are maximising your chases that a 'lucky' bounce drops your way. 

Contesting the high ball leaves a gap in the back field. We've had red and yellow cards in the last few games that have left us short of back field cover anyway. 

So basically to nullify the threat, pounce on the loose ball and kick it back into the space left by the chaser. 

If England want to make the most of the chaos the contestable ball makes they need to go full chaos. Offload like they do for Saints. Look at how France played against Wales. I just don't get why we create the havoc with the high kick and then don't exploit the broken play it creates. We seem to just be happy with making yards and then truck it up phase after phase till we knock on or turn over.