London: With freezing rain swirling across Twickenham and Wales staging a spirited second-half rally, lesser teams might have buckled on Saturday but England displayed an obdurate streak that had coach Eddie Jones purring.
The attacking prowess that overwhelmed Italy last weekend was under wraps for most of a titanic Six Nations battle between two evenly matched sides with winger Jonny May’s two first-half tries proving the difference on the day.
What really impressed Jones, however, during the tense 12-6 victory was the disciplined defending that enabled England to preserve their lead despite failing to score in the second half and seal a 15th successive home win in the tournament.
“Just as in the Australia game in November it showed we can win an arm-wrestle, we can hang in there, we can find a way to win and that’s an important habit to have,” he said.
“You get that by working harder than other teams. Because when you have success you can get complacent and stop doing the little things that allow you to win these arm-wrestles.”
Jones had come under fire for questioning whether Wales’ fly-half Rhys Patchell had the “bottle” for the battle during the build-up, but stood by his comments.
“Before the game I made some comments, you guys ask me to make comments before the game and I raise issues,” he said.
“If you don’t want me to do that I won’t do it.
“In any team you try to put pressure on their nine and 10, they tried to put pressure on our nine and 10 so it’s no different.”
Asked how Patchell, who was substituted during the second half, stood up to the test, Jones snapped: “I don’t coach him mate, ask [Wales coach] Warren [Gatland].”
Jones was full of praise for May, who raced on to Owen Farrell’s grubber kick to score in the third minute and grabbed another touchdown following a superb offload by Joe Launchbury after a lengthy England siege.
“He was outstanding,” Jones said. “He was brilliant today. He showed how important pace is. No one would have scored that first try today, only Jonny.”
Jonny May scored a pair of first-half tries England cashed in on two moments of brilliance before defending superbly to overcome Wales.
The wing struck as early as the third minute after an excellent cross-field grubber-kick by Owen Farrell and was on hand to complete a 25-phase move following a superb pass out of the tackle by Joe Launchbury in the 20th minute.
Wales’s Gareth Anscombe scored the only points of the second half, after England replacement Sam Underhill had made a try-saving tackle, but his 77th-minute penalty was too little too late for the visitors.
Victory made it two wins out of two for England, bidding to become the first team to win three successive outright Six Nations titles.
But defeat was tough on a Wales side who had a try disallowed by the video referee in a desperately close call.
