Former Rugby World Cup champions England got their campaign in Japan off to the best possible start with a 35-3 drubbing of Pacific island nation Tonga.
The team ranked 3rd in the world went in at half-time with an 18-3 lead and ended up getting the bonus-point they wanted scoring four tries, two coming from Manu Tuilagi.
Speaking afterwards, Eddie Jones had been asked if he would've liked his side to have controlled the game more, “We would have liked to but that’s rugby and sometimes it happens like that," said the England head coach.
“We can be pleased about the end of the game when we were under the pump, we defended really well. That’s two tests now we haven’t conceded a try so we’re pretty happy with that.
“We’ll just build our game as we go along. We’d like to be sharper with the ball and that will come. I was really pleased with the effort of my players, they worked really hard.
"What a great effort by Tonga. They fought really hard and I’m sure Kef is pleased with their performance.”
Manu Tuilagi was named man of the match, and said, "It was a tough game but we knew coming into this game that Tonga was going to be a tough test for us but we managed to get the five points and this is a great start to our campaign.
"I enjoyed it although I didn't get as much ball as I would have wanted. But the main thing is that the team has got a good win and a good start."
While, the Tongan head coach Toutai Kefi said there was a lot of positives from his side in the loss, "I think we did well to hang in there.
We tried to get some territory in the first half and we couldn’t, we just didn’t throw any punches at it. They’re a really good side."
Everyone’s in the Team Of Us.
Vodafone. The Official Sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team.
