Eddie hails Tuilagi, his ‘smiling’ assassin
EDDIE Jones saluted “smiling” Manu Tuilagi for returning to his dynamic, destructive best as the much-troubled star helped England demolish Italy.
The Aussie then turned his sights on avenging last year’s loss to Scotland and claimed: “They pulled our pants down and we have long memories!”
Tuilagi produced the kind of performance the Twickenham fans have been crying out for as he terrorised Italy into submission with his brute strength, power and pace. The 27-year-old centre struck twice and Brad Shields also grabbed a brace of tries as the men in white’s bonus point win helped them climb to within a point of Six Nations leaders Wales.
Jones, whose side must now beat Scotland next Saturday and hope Ireland can spoil Wales’ Grand Slam party, also labelled the clash with the auld enemy as a “Grand Final” despite the fact the visitors have no chance of capturing the title.
Jones, delighted with the eight-try 57-14 victory, insisted: “I’m really pleased for Manu because he’s had a time with his recurring injuries but he’s stuck at it and got through it. He’s a very well liked member of the squad. The boys love playing with him.
O’neills
He works hard and has power. He has a smile on his face and you can see how much he is enjoying his rugby now.”
Tuilagi insisted: “I really enjoyed it out there. I love scoring tries and it’s been a while here at Twickenham. So it feels extra good.” The easy victory was just want Jones demanded following the disappointment in Cardiff a fortnight ago.
Jamie George, Jonny May, George Kruis and Dan Robson also crossed while young wing Joe Cokanasiga impressed on the wing with several powerful carries.
Scotland have not beaten England at Twickenham since 1983 but got the better of them in Edinburgh 25-13 last year and Jones insisted: “It will be Scotland’s biggest game of the year. It’s a huge game for us and we will be well prepared for their visit.
“The team responded really well to the defeat by Wales and we will need to step it up a few more gears again next weekend. “We can’t control what happens in Cardiff with Wales and Ireland but we can control how we train, prepare and play against the Scots.”
On Cokanasiga, Jones said: “He is a young kid with a lot of potential. He could become one of the best players in the air in the world. (Israel) Folau is probably the best right now but he could challenge him.”
Captain Owen Farrell said: “The forwards gave us some good momentum and we scored some fine tries on the back of it. We now have plenty of things to work on and improve before Scotland arrive. We want to finish the tournament on a high and see how things go elsewhere.”
Italy head coach Conor O’Shea praised his players for not surrendering easily to the team he labels the Northern Hemisphere’s No.1 despite England losing to Wales.
He said: “England are the best side in the Six Nations in my view. They are a powerful side, an unbelievable side. We were overwhelmed by them. It would have been easy to put up the white flag but we didn’t do that.
“The guys kept going to the very end.”
