Beaten Jones insists England not far off its best
England head coach Eddie Jones insists his side is "two to three per cent away" from where it needs to be after hopes of retaining the Six Nations title were extinguished in Paris.
After Ireland claimed a bonus point in a 28-8 victory over Scotland in Dublin, England needed to beat France and run in four tries to have any hope of winning a third successive crown.
However, it was duly beaten 22-16 by France, the visitors' ill-discipline — particularly at the breakdown — proving costly as Ireland was confirmed champion with a game to spare.
Having suffered only one defeat in more than two years under Jones, England has now lost back-to-back Tests, this latest setback coming after a 25-13 reverse at the hands of Scotland last time out.
"It's a learning period for us," Jones said. "We're struggling with our game a little bit and we're learning from these games, and it's an important period for us.
"Whilst we're all disappointed, we're all gutted, we've got to make sure we learn from it and make sure we're stronger next time we play.
"We're about two or three per cent away from where we need to be. We were beaten at the breakdown. We gave away 16 penalties, which is far too many, and when we got momentum we didn't convert it to points. When they got momentum, they converted it to points.
"It seems like [we are] a long way away, but it's not and you go through these periods as a team. We're going through a difficult period at the moment, but we'll get through it."
Jones, who refused to criticise referee Jaco Peyper for awarding France a penalty try that ultimately proved decisive, insisted he was happy with the leadership shown by England's senior players in the absence of injured captain Dylan Hartley.
"I thought the leadership was outstanding," he added. "We didn't play well today, but we put ourselves back into a position where we could have won the game and probably should have won the game. We weren't able to execute in those final minutes."
England was denied a Grand Slam by Ireland in the final round 12 months ago, and will now seek to turn the tables on Joe Schmidt's side at Twickenham next weekend.
"It's an important game," Jones said. "We're disappointed we're not in contention to win the tournament but we want to finish the tournament well."
