Eddie Jones acclaimed his Grand Slam champions as the dominant force in the northern hemisphere but insists England’s success in his debut campaign as head coach is only the beginning.
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The coach had kind words for Dylan Hartley, the player he recalled and made his captain, after the hooker left the Stade de France pitch on a stretcher in the closing stages following a clash of heads with home prop Uini Atonio.
His decision was fully vindicated as Hartley led by example throughout the Six Nations, which culminated in victory over France in Paris on Saturday. The great thing is that we still have a long way to go.
However, Hartley has proven himself to be a strong leader and a responsible captain over the course of the Six Nations, guiding England to Grand Slam glory.
“He’s cut his teeth on that and now he’s in one of the most important coaching jobs in the world and he’s doing a good job”.
“England have been quite stereotyped in the way they play and you see that in the Premiership”.
“They are both in their early twenties so showed remarkable maturity, the way they played that last 10 minutes was fantastic”.
Once they have got over the hangover, Eddie Jones and England will now turn their attention to the summer internationals, which kick off with a test against Wales before heading south for a tour of Australia.
“Look, it is fantastic to get a grand slam, fantastic to win the Six Nations but we want to be the No1 team in the world”.
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When asked where the Championship clean sweep ranked as an achievement in his career, Jones replied: “Nowhere because it’s going to get better with England”.
Jones: we can beat the All Blacks in next three years.
Jones insists his England will reach their peak in time for the next World Cup in three years’ time and has even trained his sights on New Zealand.
“If we keep working as hard as see have been doing, pushing each other on and off the field, there’s no reason why we can’t challenge the All Blacks”. It’s easy to do that.
“If anyone gets too far ahead of themselves, they won’t be in the team”.
“We need a few young guys to come through”, he stated. We need them to come in, say, “This isn’t good enough” and lift the level again.
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“The whole level of training increased because he had no fear and he wanted to be number one in the world. I need to find a couple of those kids”.
