EDDIE GIVES

Jones upbeat about Ireland clash after England suffer a nervous breakdown

EDDIE JONES is aiming to rain on Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day parade after seeing England’s Six Nations title hopes go up in smoke.

England got a bonus point they had needed here — it is just a shame it was the wrong sort, as they got lost in France.

After Ireland’s four- try win over Scotland, England needed the same to keep the tournament alive but left Paris with a losing bonus and their Six Nations in tatters.

That means Ireland head to Twickenham next Saturday as champions, and aiming for a third Grand Slam in their history.

They destroyed England’s clean sweep last year by winning in Dublin.

And Jones will pull out all the stops to get them back – but he had better get cracking.

Here England’s breakdown broke down again, their discipline went AWOL – as they conceded an unforgiveable 16 penalties and Anthony Watson got binned – and their attack froze.

But Jones reckons his side are not miles away, and next week would be a good time to prove it.

Important

The England boss said: “It is an important game – it is Ireland at home. We are disappointed we are not in contention to win the tournament, but we want to finish the tournament well.

“We are about two or three per cent away from where we need to be. We were beaten at the breakdown, we gave away 16 penalties, which is far too many, and when we got momentum we didn’t convert it to points.

“It seems like a long way away but it is not. We are going through a difficult period at the moment but we will get through it.”

All of a sudden the heat is on England, because after defeats to Scotland and this one here, another loss next week would make it a shocking tournament showing from Jones’s team.

This the first time England have lost two on the spin since the 2015 World Cup — and we all know what happened after that farce.

Chris Robshaw battled manfully yesterday but it was hard to pick out anyone else who enhanced their reputation as England’s Six Nations went down the gurgler and the trophy is off to Dublin – once the Irish have picked it up at HQ next week. England got caught cold in their Murrayfield mugging a fortnight ago and all the talk this time was about having intensity and a quick start.

Jones’s mob did get off to a flyer, with Ben Te’o putting the monstrous 20-stone French centre Mathieu Bastareaud on his backside a couple of times, and England were buzzing.

They huffed and they puffed but they couldn’t blow the French house down.

The only scores they managed before the break were two penalties from skipper Owen Farrell and a bazooka job from Elliot Daly.

That made it 9-9 at half-time but they had left a couple of scores out there with a toothless attack, and paid for it good and proper. The French cranked it up and got a penalty try when Watson was carded on 49 minutes for a high tackle on French wing Benjamin Fall.

And 22-16 was about right as the game went to the wire after Jonny May’s score from Daly’s