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Jones enjoys the last laugh

But after England made it 13 wins out of 13 under Jones for a perfect 2016, the coach said: "Firstly I'd just like to apologise, I've forgotten my red nose, but I'll get it later and put it on."

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England's victory, their fourth over the Wallabies in 2016 following a 3-0 series win in Australia in June, was far from straightforward. They were 0-10 behind early on after a Bernard Foley penalty and Sefa Naivalu's converted try gave Australia the edge.

But England's pack gradually got into gear and the home side, with Owen Farrell landing all six of his goal kicks, fought back. Jonathan Joseph, Farrell's centre partner, scored two tries, with Marland Yarde and impressive scrumhalf Ben Youngs also crossing Australia's line.

"Australia came out hard in the first half, we knew that was going to happen and they played some very good rugby. We just had to hang in there and we did. We got to half-time 16-13 [behind], recuperated and got our heads on a bit better.

"In the second half, we did the basics really well. To win the second half 24-5 is a pretty fair effort," Jones added.

But Jones, speaking after England had equalled their national record run of 14 straight wins, said England still had work to do if they were to replace world champions New Zealand as the game's number one-ranked Test side.

"It's a good step forward for us but we can't get too carried away. We've still got a hell of a lot of work to do to become the best team in the world. All the players realise that. But the great thing is we're developing a real desire to go there.

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"We just had to work that little bit harder. We started to stop them at the gainline, the big No.8 [Lopeti Timani] didn't carry so much over the line and that put them under pressure in attack. And when they're under pressure in attack they gave us mistakes and gave us some points," he added.

Jones, who said England's 2003 team were a "much better side than we are at the moment", insisted records were of no concern as he looked to guide England to glory at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

"The only record we are interested to beat is to be the number one team in the world and to do that we have to win the World Cup," he stated.

Meanwhile Jones said he felt no special joy in beating Australia, labelling Saturday's match as "just another game of Test footy.”

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"To beat the third ranked country in the world 4-0 is fantastic isn't it?" he asked.

Agence France-Presse

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