If it was a cricket game, England could have declared, says Eddie Jones

The Australian had come in for criticism after selecting centre Jonathan Joseph on the wing for the Six Nations game at Twickenham and including five second-rows.

But England were brilliant in the first half yesterday as they built up a 17-0 lead and eventually came home 24-12 to keep their championship hopes alive. Asked if he felt vindicated for going with those picks, Jones responded: “Look I don’t need vindication. I pick the team that I think is right for the week and you guys (the media) are so clever, you’re all clever so I’ve just got to suck it all up, enjoy what you say, try to learn from you, and maybe I can pick a better team next week.”

After an opening loss against France – who have won three from three – England have beaten Scotland and Ireland ahead of their next game at home to Wales on Saturday week.

Jones added: “We played with a lot of control, we read the conditions well, read the referee well and at half-time if it was a cricket game, we could have declared. We’ve been building up. I got the preparation wrong for the France game and apologised for that.

“We were good against Scotland, really good against Scotland in difficult conditions and we took another step up today and will take another step up when we play Wales.”

“There’s a lot (more to come).

“We played tough the first 40, probably took our foot off a little bit in the second half but they (Ireland) were always going to get some ball, they were always going to get some referee’s calls and we had to defend pretty well, which we did.

“We were disappointed to give that try away at the end but we will need to be better against Wales.

“We are not worried about France, we don’t have to worry about France.

“The only thing England have got to worry about is playing well against Wales. And we will be better against Wales.”