England captain Maro Itoje lauded his aspect’s need and coronary heart following their dramatic win over France on Saturday, however warned it was “certainly not excellent” as they intention to maintain enhancing.
The hosts seemed set for an additional tight defeat at Twickenham when France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored with 5 minutes remaining, with the ensuing conversion placing the guests 25-19 forward.
Nonetheless, England fought till the demise and obtained their reward, with veteran Elliot Daly scoring simply to the precise of the posts earlier than Fin Smith, in his first begin for England, slotted the conversion to earn his aspect a 26-25 victory.
After seven defeats of their final 9, most of which got here in tightly contested video games the place England light within the closing phases, Itoje praised his aspect’s perception and need on Saturday.
“Nicely, 5 minutes, in some ways in which looks like not a very long time nevertheless it really is sort of a very long time,” Itoje instructed a information convention when requested what his ideas had been after Bielle-Biarrey’s attempt.
“I suppose the ambition and the mindset was simply to go after it, go after the win, be aggressive and we had been shut sufficient to win.
“So we knew that we would have liked a rating and massive credit score to the crew, to the boys. They had been courageous, they had been desirous to assault, they had been desirous to go after France and I am very completely satisfied that we had been in a position to do it.”
The match was riddled with errors from each side and England made errors all through the match, which both invited stress on themselves or let France off the hook.
Itoje stated whereas they’re going to benefit from the victory, the evaluation will likely be as sincere as ever with loads to work on.
“Clearly this win is particular,” Itoje stated. “We have labored arduous at it and it wasn’t simple in opposition to a really gifted French crew, however we all know there’s a lot in us so we’ll wish to keep constant.
“This recreation was certainly not was excellent. I do know Steve and the coaches, come the following coaching day, goes to present us an sincere evaluation like he all the time does whatever the outcome.
“So we’re pleased with the win, however we all know there’s positively issues to get higher.”
Scotland are subsequent for England at Twickenham in two weeks’ time, as they bid to beat their outdated rivals for the primary time in 4 years.
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