Eddie Jones wants England to channel Muhammad Ali and dominate Italy in Rome

Eddie Jones has evoked the image of Muhammad Ali triumphantly standing over Sonny Liston to inspire England’s pursuit of a landslide victory against Italy.

Even in round two England are looking to rebuild their Guinness Six Nations after an opening-day defeat by Scotland made Sunday’s trip to Rome a must-win encounter.

Jones wants a side showing six changes in personnel, including Harry Randall starting ahead of Ben Youngs at scrum-half, to put Italy to the sword in the hope of reviving their title challenge.

Reinforcing the assault on the Stadio Olimpico will be a bench containing 409 caps due to the presence of veterans such as Youngs, George Ford and Joe Marler.

To illustrate his vision for England, Jones has looked to Ali’s first-round knockout of Liston when they fought for a second time in 1965.

A controversial finish produced one of the most iconic images in sport as Ali taunted his fallen opponent.

“We want to be ruthless. We’ve got a chance on Sunday to atone for what we did against Scotland,” Jones said.

“We can only do that by being really ruthless and having that vision of Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston – that sort of image in your head where you want to really go at them.

“If you look at our squad, we’re probably missing seven front-line players, very conservatively. When you look at the quality of our bench, it’s testament to the strength of the squad.

“We’ve got what would be deemed a very young and inexperienced team starting. It’s around half the number of caps you need in your side to win a World Cup.

There is the possibility the finishing eight will have the opportunity to be Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston- Eddie Jones

“We’ve got a nice blend of a young and vibrant starting XV and a