6N: No massive fixes needed for sliding England, says Jones

Explaining the most radical surgery he has applied for a tournament encounter, Jones said: “We felt we needed to make some changes, we need to get on the front foot”.

“To show the steel that they did, the commitment and just plain, ordinary rugby ability to keep the ball”, recalled Schmidt.

20 tries in their five Six Nations wins is the most Ireland have ever scored in a single championship, and the variety of their scores was striking. “It’ part of our game that we need to improve and we’re working hard on the detail”. “It’s not all doom and gloom”.

“We have a lot of rebuilding to do because three in a row isn’t good enough”.

The tournament’s final round, featuring three matches back-to-back, tied up the loose ends.

Scrum-half Conor Murray is believed by many to be the best nine in the world, whilst fly-half Johnny Sexton and full-back Rob Kearney have invaluable experience, having won Six Nations titles and competed at World Cups.

He doesn’t place the blame for their dismal Six Nations on either Jones or the players though, and cited an unlikely factor behind their below-par displays.

Ireland put themselves in sight of St Patrick’s Day glory in the opening 40 minutes thanks to converted tries from Garry Ringrose, CJ Stander and Jacob Stockdale to one unconverted try from England’s Elliot Daly.

England have descended into crisis as their 14-Test unbeaten home record under Eddie Jones drew to a close, in the process registering a third successive loss and a first championship defeat at Twickenham since 2012.

Until last month, that was the only blot on Jones’s England record, which now stands at 24 wins from 27 Tests with three defeats.

Francois Trinh-Duc might have a sleepless night after this defeat for the French.

James Haskell’s head comically blocked the path of a clearance by Owen Farrell but there was nothing amusing about the spell of pressure on the home line that eventually told in the 24th minute.

“Some of them have been on the back of really positive defence”.

The breakdown, which went so badly against Scotland and France, was not a major concern on Saturday, yet England still struggled for continuity.

In the scrum, former Ireland Under-20 captain James Ryan, who has played more matches at Test level than for his province Leinster since making his debut past year, also shone.

Jones is tied to England, who finished fifth in this year’s Six Nations, until 2021 after signing a two-year extension in January that is subject to a break clause dependent on performance at the global showpiece.

“This decision enables us to provide more certainty to passengers around departing flights, whilst ensuring safety and service standards despite the challenging conditions”.

Scotland earned a third win for only the third time since the competition expanded in 2000 to finish third.