Jones prepared to make changes for Azzurri clash

Eddie Jones is ready to make changes for the next step in England’s RBS 6 Nations title defence as he assesses the damage incurred during an enthralling 2116 victory over Wales.

Elliot Daly sprinted over with five minutes of a breathtaking showdown in Cardiff remaining to seize a 16th consecutive triumph that leaves the champions only two wins short of New Zealand’s world record.

Italy’s visit to Twickenham in a fortnight is the next assignment and Jones has indicated that for the first time in his England reign he will experiment with his “battered and bruised” team.

“We’ll look at playing a different sort of side. I’ve got some ideas of how we want to play against Italy, we will change it up a bit,” the Australian said.

“We want to play a different sort of game against them and it’s a great chance for us to do something different.

“We had a few guys going into the game who weren’t absolutely 100 per cent. Our medical team is going to be very busy.”

He added: “I thought it was a great game of Test rugby. A lot of credit goes to Wales who were superb. They hit hard and hit often off the ball which made it a fantastic Test match.

“We have now become a team that is hard to beat and even when a side beats us I don’t think they are going to beat us and that is what we want to be like.

“I thought we were going to fade but we hung in there making tackles.”

Wales could only reflect on one that got away as their title hopes were dealt a severe blow.

“We were there for 67-68 minutes, and the last 10 minutes, maybe we lost our composure,” Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb said.

“Aspects of the game didn’t go our way when we needed them to. It is difficult to take as a loss, to be honest. I don’t think we deserved that result.”