BEST IS YET TO COME!
Jones sends warning as England stun Ireland... but Itoje injury mars win
EDDIE JONES warned the rugby world that England are ‘ just getting started’ after their rampant victory over Ireland.
England’ s Six Nations campaign almost got off to a perfect start in Dublin — but a knee injury to Maro Itoje could rule out the star lock for the rest of the tournament.
In his finest hour as England coach, Jones’ underdogs laid down an emphatic statement in the build up to the World Cup in Japan.
‘The only thing I know is that the next one will be better,’ said Jones.
‘ We are a team that’s still growing. We’re nowhere near our best. We’re looking for- ward to playing better than that and we will.
‘ Defensively we can get better and we’re just starting on our attack. We’ve j ust started coaching our attack now and we’ll build that up as we progress through the tournament.’
England f ace France at Twickenham next Sunday and they will be sweating over the fitness of Itoje, who limped off after 54 minutes.
Early prognosis suggests Itoje damaged the medial ligaments in his right knee and he will be sent for scans today.
‘He has probably got some sort of me dial ligament damage but, like all these things, you never know until they get an MRI,’ said Jones. ‘It’s a blow.’
Itoje has become one of the most senior figures in Jones’ squad and, with Dylan Hartley also injured, added emphasis will be put on Owen Farrell’s
role as captain. The No 10 kicked 12 points at the Aviva Stadium, with Jones praising how the fly-half has grown into the leadership role.
‘The intensity at which we played pleased me most,’ said Jones. ‘When you play Ireland at home, you know it’s going to be a physical game and we prepared for that.
‘The other thing that really pleased me from this game was the leadership of the senior players. That has really taken a step forward for us.
‘Owen did a great job as captain. He’s one of the best players in the world. We had a penalty count of 7-2 against us. We kept our composure, played to the referee as much as we could and the senior players kept the players on focus.’ Ireland were named the Team of the Year in 2018 after winning the Grand Slam and beating the All Blacks.
Their coach Joe Schmidt admitted the surprise defeat was a ‘reality check’ in the built up to the World Cup.
‘There are physical and emotional bruises there, for sure,’ said Schmidt. ‘We beat them at Twickenham last year and you can only sting a beast so many times before it reacts. It reacted today.
‘We were physically bettered. I don’t think we’ve not played a game where our opponent made so many dominant tackles and carried as physically as they did. To contain those guys is difficult.
‘You get used to having that winning feeling and it’s pretty hollow right now. It’s a reality check.’
Manu Tuilagi, meanwhile, had not started a match in the tournament since 2013 but his return means England have a heavy-duty weapon in midfield. With him, Mako Vunipola and Billy Vunipola all fit and firing, the omens are frightening in a World Cup year.
‘This is a massive achievement — it’s right up there for me,’ said Tuilagi. ‘It’s the first game of the Six Nations, Ireland are the best in Europe and second in the world for a reason. We knew it was going to be massive and we prepped well. It’s probably tougher than that win against New Zealand [in 2012] because you don’t have many teams that come to Ireland and win here.
‘It’s massive for us and gives us a bit of momentum going into next week against France. They started well against Wales and it looked like they were back to their old selves so we have to prepare for that and go back to work on Monday.’