Beaten England have taken massive steps forward, says coach Jones

LONDON : England coach Eddie Jones has lifted "taking the positives" to a new level in the wake of Saturday's 32-15 defeat by Ireland, insisting his team had shown major progress in the Six Nations, despite two defeats and some underwhelming performances.

England showed fantastic grit and defensive determination to go into the final 10 minutes level at 15-15 after having Charlie Ewels sent off in the second minute, but Ireland then ran in their third and fourth tries of the game to secure their biggest margin of victory at Twickenham.

That came after defeat to Scotland in the opening round, a routine win over Italy and a nervy victory over Wales, who outscored England three tries to one.

Asked if this represented progress from last year's shocking fifth-placed finish, Jones told journalists: "Oh I think we’ve taken massive steps forward. We dominated the game against Scotland - we got beaten. We’ve dominated this game with 14 men, at times, and got beaten. And then we’ve had two good wins against Wales and Italy and we’ll have a good win against France. So I can’t see how we haven’t progressed the way we want to progress.

"Obviously, our aim was to win the championship and we’re disappointed we haven’t, but sometimes circumstances mean the results don’t mimic the performances. The results will catch up."

Jones is famed for his left-field pronouncements to the press but his latest will no doubt raise a smile from Ireland coach Andy Farrell and French coach Fabien Galthie - whose teams remain in the hunt for the title next Saturday as England wallow among the also-rans again.

Jones was right to praise the spirit his players showed in adversity on Saturday - they were described as heroic by Farrell - though he has also said