When England face better opposition than Italy it will be harder to play to Jones’s new requirements but the more they attain it the better they will get
England’s display showed us what Eddie Jones means when he talks about playing with pace and intensity. There was a genuine step up in terms of intent and in the relentless pressure they tried to put Italy under. Dylan Hartley and his team were rushing to get in position for kick-offs and took every opportunity to inject pace into the game and to harry Italy at the breakdown.
Let’s not rank the performance by looking at the scoreboard,though. There were problems in the first half and things were ragged at times. They got a bit woolly at some of the lineouts and failed to get numbers to some of the breakdowns. What impressed was that they kept at it and did not revert to the broken-down, unhurried and predictable ways. Related: Jonathan Joseph leads the way as England turn on the style in Italy Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com