Jones keeps eyes on the major prize

EDDIE JONES won’t be getting carried away with victory despite being written off by all and sundry before England achieved only their third Six Nations win in Ireland.

For him it is all about the bigger picture and that is being victorious in the International Stadium Yokohama in eight months’ time.

Winning the World

Cup has been his sole focus and is all that Jones (above) has spoken of since he took control from Stuart Lancaster after a disastrous 2015 campaign.

It is the first thing Jones thinks about when he gets up in the morning and the last before he closes his eyes at night.

This Six Nations is his last big chance to get things right as the warm-up games will just be used for tweaking and not for major surgery, unlike in 2015.

This was the time to partner Manu Tuilagi in the centre with Henry Slade, with Elliot Daly at full-back. You wouldn’t want to be an injured player forcing his way back into this side.

Ireland were seen by many as the northern hemisphere’s most likely challengers to the All Blacks but, make no mistakes about it, England did a job on them.

It was the type of performance that will be making the southern hemisphere powerhouses sit up and take some notice as well as giving Ireland a reality check.

It was plain for all to see how much Jones has missed Billy Vunipola and Tuilagi, and he needs to do all he can to wrap them in cotton wool and keep them fit.

They are vital to his game-plan and England played with such cohesion it was very hard to pick a man of the match. But we cannot get carried away, especially with a visit to Wales ahead.

A huge factor in the win was the masterstroke of bringing in John Mitchell, a polarising character who is either a genius or a reincarnation of the devil, depending on who you listen to.

Under Paul Gustard, England’s defence was leaky at best but since Mitchell’s arrival, at a cost of £500,000 compensation, it has been tightened up and is unrecognisable from last season.

They looked very efficient and found an answer to every question that was asked of them by a team who won’t be made to look so bad many more times.

Mitchell’s work at the breakdown cannot be underplayed. It finally seems to have clicked that England cannot afford to be hot-headed and give away penalties for fun.