Jones wants ‘ruthless’ England in Rome

Eddie Jones has ordered his England players to be “ruthless” in Rome but also prepare for a fierce early Italian onslaught when the two sides clash in the Six Nations tomorrow.  The head coach also wants his men to pick up where they left off in the Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland, and make it two wins out of two at the start of his reign.  Jones is fully aware of the dangers that Italy can pose having already made their own early statement on the tournament by pushing France close in Paris last weekend before just going down 23-21.  The Azzurri will believe they can cause an upset and beat England for the very first time despite a crushing 52-11 defeat when they last played on Italian soil.  Italy pushed England to within four points at the Stadio Olimpico in 2012 and Jones, who has made three changes to his starting line-up with Ben Youngs, Mako Vunipola and Courtney Lawes coming in, insisted: “Italy are going to be absolutely pumped and there players will be flying everywhere. So we will have to be ready for it. “We have to match the fire in their bellies and intensity, and then take control of the game. It’s so important to start strongly. “It will be a tough match up front. So we will need fresh minds and feet at the end to finish the job. “Rome is a fantastic city and the Stadio Olimpico will be buzzing. Italy will want to take our scalp and will be combative. It will be a great game and we will go there looking to score tries. “Italy have looked at times like a team that will make it big in the Six Nations but at other times look as if they are never going to make it. We must make sure they don’t make it on Sunday. I want my players to be confident and play with real belief. The win over Scotland was a good start but that’s all. It was a winning start.” Australian Jones, who led Japan to an unprecedented three pool stage victories in the World Cup, took over England after they became the first tournament hosts to fail to reach the knock-out stages. “We have a long way to go still,” said Jones. “When you climb up a ladder you have to take each step at a time because if you miss a step you can fall back down quite rapidly. So this is can be another small step for us in the right direction.” Jones insists he has picked Leicester’s Youngs “because of the type of game we want to play” adding that Danny Care will come on and “finishing the job”. Lawes takes over from Joe Launchbury in the second row with Vunipola demoting Joe Marler to the bench at loosehead. And Saracens 21-year-old lock Maro Itoje is likely to make his debut from the bench with Jones insisting: “Maro is a young kid, good head on his shoulders. He’s like a Vauxhall Viva at the moment and we want to make him into a BMW.”  Captain Dylan Hartley is preparing himself for another battle of strength and power against Italy’s muscle-bound pack. The Northampton hooker claimed: “Games between the two teams are usually tight and are always an arm wrestle. “Sergio Parisse is their captain and talisman, and a good bloke. He takes the game on by himself and he’s someone we we go after.” “They are proud team playing at home but we are confident going out there. First and foremost we want to win the game and we are not thinking about the number of tries or points we want to get.”