The visitors lost their first throw and when, after an opening 20 minutes which they spent nearly entirely on the back foot, they made it into England’s 22 for the first time, Maro Itoje stole the throw.
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“As I said to the team after the game, we’re a go-at-’em team”.
The hosts triumphed 20-13 in London to head to France chasing a Six Nations clean sweep while Rhys Edwards’ side are gunning for second place when they welcome Italy to Aberavon on Sunday.
But after McBryde, the former Scarlets, Wales and British & Irish Lions hooker, had pointed the finger at England’s scrum, Eddie Jones broke his vow of silence surrounding the biggest game yet in his reign as England’s head coach to push straight back at the Welsh pack.
“Wales play the laws very well. The Grand Slam is a reality and we can’t wait to get to Paris and to do the business”. If Wales win, then all they need to do is dispatch Italy to begin their victory celebrations. It was only the last three minutes of the game when we increased our intensity again.
Television footage showed the Exeter forward appearing to make contact with the eye area of England tighthead Dan Cole late in the game, which England won 25-21 to set them up for a Grand Slam tilt in Paris next weekend.
“To play against them and get one or two steals in the line-out was pleasing but it wasn’t just me”. We all had to pull our socks up, really. “He’s been absolutely outstanding”, Jones said. “We had an off-day, and good teams like England punish you”.
However, when asked which of his players had impressed him most during the tournament, Jones singled the deposed captain from the World Cup who has been switched from openside to blindside flanker. It’s the same with Billy [Vunipola], we don’t tell him how to attack. The coach does, though, deserve credit for the belief he has given them and the fact they are playing as a team.
“We were trying to win the game but they scored the tries and the gap was closing”. We controlled the game and dominated for most of it.
“They came on the back of a good result against France, full of confidence and we knew they would be hard to break down”. “Seventy percent of our players are the same but we have a different philosophy of how we train, behave and play”.
England might even win the Six Nations without having to touch a ball.
Victory for either side would put them firmly in the box seat to claim this season’s Six Nations title.
“What was significant was our first 60 minutes, I thought we played really well and I thought we played good position, played tactically smart and were physical”, he added.
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Itoje rounded two Welsh tacklers down the left and offloaded to Mike Brown, who sent Watson over along the touchline for his try, and Farrell’s conversion – added to his three earlier penalties – left England 16-0 ahead.
