Eddie Jones sets sights on 'making history' with third Six Nations win after England thrash Samoa 48-14

The seven-try victory capped another impressive year under the Australian's reign, but he is already planning for England's defence of the Six Nations crown in February

Eddie Jones wants England to win the Six Nations title for the third time in a row (Getty)

After watching his side secure a ninth Test victory out of 10 in 2017 with the 48-14 victory over Samoa, Eddie Jones immediately turned his attentions towards “making history” by winning the Six Nations for a third consecutive time.

England will aim to become the only side to win the title outright three times in a row when the European championship returns in February, and they will do so having completed what Jones set out to do in bolstering their strength in depth during a transitional year.

Jones was keen to point that out after, stating that he’s given 12 new caps this year along with the unbeaten tour of Argentina with a depleted side due to British and Irish Lions call-ups. But after admitting that he was pleased with the seven-try rout of Samoa, Jones made it clear that England still need to improve if they are to retain the Six Nations crown for a second time in a row.

“We're moving in the right direction. We've had three good wins,” Jones said, reflecting on the three autumn victories over Argentina, Australia and now Samoa. “The slugathon the first game, second game we finished well, good performance in the third game, we learnt a lot. A very positive autumn, though it's got to be winter now.”

He added: “I'm excited about the Six Nations as we've got a chance to create history.

“We want to get better every game. Every game we play we want to get better. Sometimes the game's hard to beat. We just want to make sure we hang in there, we do all the small things right in every game and give ourselves the chance of being better.”

Jones’s aim is still to plot the downfall of the All Blacks and win the Rugby World Cup. England will face New Zealand next autumn for the first time since 2014, with the next World Cup firmly on the horizon the following year.

Having seen the All Blacks beaten by Ireland, the Lions and Australia in the space of a calendar year, there have been many who believe that their unbeatable aura is beginning to fade, but Jones immediately rejected this.

Jones wants Sam Simmonds to put on more muscle to challenge the best back-rows (Getty)

He said: “I saw those comments about the All Blacks being in decay. If you've got a 93 per cent winning record and you're in decay, you're not going too badly, are you? That's how things are judged these days, if they're not winning at 96 per cent. We get criticised at 95 per cent. We're going backwards down the hill. I'm not sure who is in decay, whether it's New Zealand or ourselves.”

Jones confirmed that the shoulder injury to Joe Launchbury and the head knock to Jonny May “doesn’t appear to be too bad”, and also offered his thoughts on a number of the fringe players that were brought into the squad. Sam Simmonds and Jamie George both made their first England starts, while Ellis Genge and Charlie Ewels were also brought into a fairly inexperienced pack that dominated their Samoan opponents.

“It was all three, for them, a difficult game,” Jones said of Simmonds, Ewels and Genge. “Simmonds I thought did pretty well. He's a good young rugby player. We've just got to get some beef on him. We might have to send him down to Miyazaki in Japan and get him to eat some Miyazaki beef. Obviously those Cornish pasties aren't working!

“He's got a nice feel for the game, he works hard. He doesn't talk a lot, just gets on with the job. [He’s a] good prospect for us.

““Against the bigger sides he's going to need that. He just needs a bit more ballast, just a little bit more.

“Ewels toughed it out. Genge, it was a difficult game because it didn't suit his running game.”