Rugby World Cup 2019: Jones thrilled by England’s perfect start

Eddie Jones is 100 per cent satisfied with England’s start to the Rugby World Cup after his side’s 45-7 victory over the United States.

England kept up their winning start to the Pool C campaign with a dominant display in Kobe, which was only marred when Bryce Campbell went over late on.

George Ford, Billy Vunipola, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Joe Cokanasiga, Ruaridh McConnochie and Lewis Ludlam all got in on the act for England, with USA reduced to 14 men when John Quill saw red 10 minutes from time.

Jones’ side sit pretty with 10 points from their first two matches and, with a nine-day break before the clash with Argentina, the former Japan coach had no complaints over England’s displays in the tournament, especially in the heat and humidity of Kobe on Thursday.

“We wanted to be on 10 points at the end of two games so we are perfect,” Jones told reporters.

“We wanted to go out hard against them and we scored early, but we probably got a bit seduced by the space and tried to move the ball too much.

.@EnglandRugby scored 7 tries for back-to-back bonus point victories 

Hear from George Ford as he reflects on the performance #RWC2019 #ENGvUSA #RWCKobe pic.twitter.com/MnjwlczqZU

— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 26, 2019

“The conditions were such, it was like a wet-weather game, but we found our rhythm and tempo really well in the second half.

“We made some handling mistakes but we will improve. They are quite unique conditions, it is 27C and 70 per cent humidity and the ball is like a cake of soap.

“They had 14 players in the line and it was hard to get a numerical advantage, but as soon as we started to play through them we were much better.”

Ludlam – introduced as one of 10 changes by Jones compared to the side which started against Tonga – gave Jones food for thought with an impressive display, and England’s coach is confident the 23-year-old will only improve as the tournament goes on.

“Lewis is an incredible young player and he is only going to get better,” Jones told ITV Sport.

“He was lucky to make it into Northampton’s B team 12 months ago. Now he’s out there playing in a World Cup and was one of the most impressive forwards out there.”

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