Eddie Jones expressed his satisfaction with England’s response to their defeat to Wales after they bounced back in style with a 57-14 victory against Italy at Twickenham.
The Red Rose saw their hopes of a Grand Slam end in Cardiff in Round Three of the Guinness Six Nations, after Warren Gatland’s men recovered from a first-half deficit to triumph 29-13.
But England got their Championship challenge back on track against the Azzurri with a scintillating attacking display, running in eight tries to seal a crucial bonus-point win.
And while Jones admitted he was disappointed with his own role in the loss to Wales, he praised his players for the character they showed to deliver a perfect riposte.
“I think it was a really good response from us, we bounced back,” he said. “We were obviously disappointed with the last 30 minutes against Wales and it’s hard to recover.
“You have to find the application to start working hard again and I was really pleased with how the team responded like that.
“Our scrummaging went to another level and we played a little bit of a different backline to see how it operated and there were some good things that happened.
“I didn’t think I coached the side well against Wales and I take responsibility for that, but do I doubt myself? I don’t know, probably not, but I didn’t coach well against Wales.
“I let the players down and it was good to see that we got together, we worked hard and we got ourselves right for this game.”
Manu Tuilagi and Brad Shields both scored doubles for the hosts, after Jamie George had opened the scoring, while Jonny May, George Kruis and Dan Robson also dotted down.
While Tuilagi took the headlines, Joe Cokanasiga was a constant threat on his Championship debut and Jones believes the winger will only continue to improve.
“Joe’s a young kid with great potential,” he said “We took him to Argentina in 2017 and he couldn’t do a training session, he’s worked that hard to get himself right.
“He’s got some good natural ability, he’s got areas of his game he’s got to work really hard on, which he is doing, and he could be one of the best players in the air in the world.”
Tuilagi was moved to inside centre against Italy, with Ben Te’o joining him as his new midfield partner, and Jones was happy with what he saw from the pairing.
“They did good and they had a pretty good ten inside of them,” he said. “They hit the ball hard, they created opportunities, they drew defenders in and we scored some good tries.
“The physicality in the game is just getting greater and greater and if you have big people who can move fast and have skill, it’s pretty advantageous.
“He’s a hard, physical player, but he’s got a nice way about him in the way he engages with the rest of the team and we’re so happy he’s fit and ready to go.
“I think he is enjoying playing with the guys and he has got a smile on his face. I also thought George Kruis had a fantastic game, he worked hard an put two tries on for us.
“He worked hard to charge down kicks and they’re the things that make teams great, those little things. I thought he was absolutely outstanding.”
