Sunday 12 February 2017 19:26, UK
Eddie Jones suggested he could make a number of changes to his England side for the Six Nations clash with Italy in a fortnight.
Jones was thrilled with England's late comeback against Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday when Elliot Daly's late try saw them to a 21-16 victory and two wins from two in the competition.
But, after securing a 16th straight win, Jones said the exacting demands of the game mean he has a number of players struggling for fitness ahead of a date with the Azzurri at Twickenham on February 26.
England could have a couple of players back from injury, or closer to 100 per cent fitness, with James Haskell and Anthony Watson among possible candidates to come into his starting XV.
"We'll look at playing a different sort of side. I've got some ideas of how we want to play against Italy, we will change it up a bit," Jones said.
"We want to play a different sort of game against them and it's a great chance for us to do something different.
"Courtney Lawes is like a human ice pack. He has ice all over him after that many tackles and carries. Joe Launchbury as well. We're battered and bruised.
"We had a few guys going into the game who weren't absolutely 100 per cent. Our medical team is going to be very busy.
"It looks like we might have Anthony coming back which is fantastic. We're slowly, slowly getting a little bit stronger.
"Any changes will not be because I'm unhappy with the guys who played against Wales, but because I want to keep developing the team."
After narrow wins over France and Wales, Jones is determined to see England play more ruthlessly against Italy, who will come to London on the back of a 63-10 defeat at home against Ireland.
"We have used up all of our get out of jail cards and against Italy we don't want to be in that position again," Jones added.
"I thought it was a great game of Test rugby. A lot of credit goes to Wales who were superb. They hit hard and hit often off the ball which made it a fantastic Test match.
"We have now become a team that is hard to beat and even when a side beats us I don't think they are going to beat us and that is what we want to be like.
"We are a gritty team with characters in there that don't know how to get beaten and that was evident here. At stages I thought we were going to fade out of the game but we hung in there making tackles."
