England coach says best is yet to come from his team

EDDIE JONES warned the rugby world that England are ‘just getting started’ after their rampant victory over Ireland.

England’s Six Nations campaign almost got off to a perfect start in Dublin — but a knee injury to Maro Itoje could rule out the star lock for the rest of the tournament.

In his finest hour as England coach, Jones’ underdogs laid down an emphatic statement in the build up to the World Cup in Japan.

‘The only thing I know is that the next one will be better,’ said Jones. ‘We are a team that’s still growing. We’re nowhere near our best. We’re looking forward to playing better than that and we will.

‘Defensively we can get better and we’re just starting on our attack. We’ve just started coaching our attack now and we’ll build that up as we progress through the tournament.

‘The intensity at which we played pleased me most.’

England face France at Twickenham next Sunday and they will be sweating over the fitness of Itoje, who limped off after 54 minutes.

Early prognosis suggests Itoje damaged the medial ligaments in his right knee and he will be sent for scans today.

‘He has probably got some sort of medial ligament damage but, like all these things, you never know until they get an MRI,’ said Jones. ‘It’s a blow.’