This was published 7 years ago
England's Eddie Jones brushes off his own perfect 10 as the All Blacks cruise in Italy
Eddie Jones played down his achievement in becoming the first England coach to win his first 10 games in charge after their comprehensive 37-21 victory over South Africa at Twickenham.
The Australian remains unbeaten since taking over a team in disarray last December, delivering their first Six Nations grand slam since 2003 and an unprecedented 3-0 away series victory over Australia.
On Saturday, his team laid another bogey by beating South Africa for the first time in 12 games and 10 years.
Yet while accepting that England deserved credit, he dismissed his personal coaching landmark with a reference to their next Twickenham opponents, Fiji.
Reasons to smile: Eddie Jones looks on during England's victory over South Africa.Credit: Clive Rose
"I'll be more pleased when we play better against Fiji next week," said Jones, whose unbeaten 10-match run has seen his team score 302 points and 31 tries
"After 10 years, it's fantastic to get the win but we get only a pass mark."
Even that assessment represents praise from Jones, who has consistently downplayed each new landmark for his team in a year that could end with 13 straight wins if they beat Fiji, Argentina and Australia at Twickenham over the next three weeks.
On Saturday, Jones was particularly unhappy about the six penalties England conceded in the first 20 minutes, which allowed South Africa to build a 9-7 lead.
Big performance: Billy Vunipoa.Credit: Laurence Griffiths
"They came at us hard and we gave away a lot of penalties. We should never give away an offside penalty, we need to trust our defence. You don't get away with that in international rugby. We've got work to do.
"There was good leadership by Dylan [Hartley], Owen [Farrell], Billy [Vunipola]. They identified the spaces we needed to attack."
Strong leadership: Owen FarrellCredit: Clive Rose
Jones was also pleased with Elliot Daly's first start for England. The 24-year-old Wasps centre looked completely at home on a ground where he won schoolboy honours five years earlier, and played a significant part in England's first two tries.
On 10 minutes, his decoy run created the space for Jonny May to finish off a fine England move and then, on 35 minutes, his booming downfield kick created the mayhem in South Africa's defence that led to Courtney Lawes' touchdown.
Big game: Malakai Fekitoa was instrumental in the All Blacks big win in Italy.Credit: Phil Walter
"He did really well, he's got the ability to make outside breaks, that left-foot kick and it gives you another attacking weapon," said Jones.
Ben Youngs was another standout performer behind the scrum, fooling Pieter-Steph du Toit with two perfect dummies that led to tries for George Ford and Owen Farrell.
New look side: Aaron Cruden was one of a handful of familiar faces in the All Blacks side.Credit: Phil Walter
"Ben is going in the right direction and has potential to be one of the best halfbacks in the world," said Jones.
In the other games, the All Blacks showed they are back in business thanks to a resounding 68-10 victory over Italy in Rome.
Surprise losers against Ireland last week in Chicago, the world champions dominated from first minute to last over a gallant but vastly inferior Italian outfit, nabbing 10 tries to one.
The side also made close to 600 metres more with the ball in hand and a devastating 13 line breaks, cutting the Italian defence open at will.
Head coach Steve Hansen named an experimental line-up for the match in the hope of keeping his key troops fresh, and was satisfied with what he saw from his fringe players.
It will now fall upon a more senior matchday 23 to produce a similar performance next week in Dublin, as they seek revenge against Ireland.
"It bodes well for next week, we've got a lot of in-form people for selection, and even better, it bodes well for the future," Hansen said.
Wales halted a run of five straight rugby losses by holding out for a 24-20 win over Argentina, marking an impressive comeback from its chastening defeat to Australia last weekend.
Winger Liam Williams and scrum-half Gareth Davies scored tries early in the second half for the Welsh, who then kept the Pumas at bay thanks to two penalties from fullback Leigh Halfpenny.
Wales led 6-3 at halftime and kept it tight in the final 20 minutes to close out the game, showing a massive improvement defensively from the 32-8 rout by the Wallabies - its heaviest loss in more than a decade.
"We turned into the great entertainers today," Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones said, sarcastically.
France also beat Samoa 52-8 while Ireland built on their momentum from defeating the All Blacks to smash Canada 52-21.