Jones insists England's World Cup bid not derailed by Ireland setback

Eddie Jones insists England’s Rugby World Cup hopes have not been derailed by their failed attempt at making history in Saturday’s Six Nations defeat to Ireland.

England headed to Dublin knowing that victory would not only see them become the first team to complete back-to-back Grand Slams in the Six Nations era, but also set the record for the most consecutive wins by a tier-one nation at 19.

However, Ireland – as they did to New Zealand – stopped the run at 18 victories with a gritty 13-9 victory to inflict a first defeat on Jones as England’s head coach.

But the Australian feels his team have made huge leaps and believes it is wrong to place too much emphasis on the defeat.

“One game doesn’t change our plan. You are putting too much significance on a loss,” he told a news conference.

“This result doesn’t change the plan at all. Did you think we would never get defeated?

“We’ve got a plan in place so I know what we’ve got to do to be at our best for the World Cup, and one game doesn’t affect our perception of people, or the team.”

Not the result we wanted, but it still feels pretty good to win back-to-back @SixNationsRugby titles… #WearTheRose? pic.twitter.com/VpxW3T2glq

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 18, 2017

According to Jones, it is premature to suggest some players have come to the end of the road with England.

“There are three projects in a World Cup project,” he said.

“There are the first two years, the second two years, and then three months leading in to the Cup.

“We don’t have to make decisions on players until at least the end of the first two-year project.

“I sit here today and I think we are in a much better position now than we were 12 months ago, and six months ago. We are moving in the right direction.”

Jones also shouldered the blame for the loss, saying: “I don’t think I gave the team the right environment to prepare well,” he continued.

“I don’t think I created the absolute right mindset for the team, and I need to look at what I said and what I didn’t say and improve on that in the future.

“But I don’t think we lacked intensity, or we lacked passion, or we lacked a desire or we lacked effort. I disagree with that very strongly. Ireland played really well.”