Jones waxes lyrical over Six Nations quality

– England coach Eddie Jones (right) forecast fans were in for a treat following the “wonderful rugby” played on the opening weekend of this season’s Six Nations.

Jones’s men launched their bid for an unprecedented third successive title by rounding off the first round of fixtures with a 46-15 win away to Italy on Sunday.

A crowd of more than 61 000 spectators at the Stadio Olimpico saw England run in seven tries, with an emboldened Italy scoring two of their own before fading away late on.

The fixture capped a weekend where Wales hammered Scotland 34-7 in Cardiff, while Ireland needed a last-ditch drop goal from Johnny Sexton to see off France 15-13 in Paris.

It all promised a truly competitive tournament, in marked contrast to last year’s Rugby Championship where world champions New Zealand were yet again the overwhelmingly dominant side in the southern hemisphere equivalent of the Six Nations.

“I thought if you looked at the three games in the championship so far, what wonderful rugby,” said Jones.

“You had Wales and Scotland throwing the ball from side-toside, you had Ireland and France in an old-fashioned arm wrestle.

“You saw that there was a bit of an arm wrestle and then it opened up at the end.

“We feel honoured to be part of the tournament and the tournament is only going to get better,” added the Australian after overseeing his 23rd victory in 24 Tests in charge of England.

“We go next week (against Wales) at Twickenham, there will be 82 000 people, they’ll be absolutely pumped and we’ll be pumped to play in front of them.”

The speedy Watson gave England an early 10-0 lead with two unconverted tries and Jones, perhaps mindful he was in Italy, said: “He got the Maserati out of the car park today.”

Reflecting on England’s overall performance, Jones said: “Our scrum and lineout was absolutely first-class. I don’t think we’ve scrummed as well as that in the time I’ve been in charge of England.

“We were completely dominant and that’s English rugby. When the game broke up at the end we were able to score tries. .. It wasn’t the perfect game but very, very positive.” – AFP