England rugby: Eddie Jones says his side are not as good as 2003 World Cup winners

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England World Cup winnersImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

After their 14-Test winning run came to an end, Sir Clive Woodward's England side went on to beat Australia to win the 2003 World Cup

England are not nearly as good as the side that won the 2003 World Cup despite equalling their record of 14 straight Test wins, says Eddie Jones.

Saturday's win over Australia saw head coach Jones' team match the record set by Sir Clive Woodward's side in the run-up to the 2003 World Cup.

But Jones, who has won each of his 13 games in charge, is yet to come up against world champions New Zealand.

"The 2003 side were a much better side than we are at the moment," he said.

"They could win any number of ways. They had a very, very consistent scrum and line-out. We don't have that yet."

Australian Jones took charge of England after the disastrous home World Cup campaign of 2015, when defeats by Wales and Australia saw them exit at the group stage.

A Grand Slam in the Six Nations, three wins out of three on tour in Australia and an unbeaten autumn campaign have followed.

New Zealand hold the current record of 18 successive Test victories - a mark England will beat if they secure a second successive Grand Slam in the 2017 Six Nations.

But Jones says the number one ranking and a World Cup victory in Japan in 2019 are the targets for his team.

"There's clocks around [Twickenham] which say how many days until the World Cup final - 1,020 days. Every day counts," he said.

"We've got until November 2, 8pm Japan time 2019 to get ready. That's what we're aiming at. We want to be at our best on that night."

Media caption,

England would play All Blacks tomorrow - Eddie Jones

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