Conor O'Shea: We deserve 'a little bit of respect'; Eddie Jones slams Italy tactics

Italy coach Conor O'Shea was pleased with his side's display in their 36-15 defeat to England in their Six Nations game today.

Conor O'Shea: We deserve 'a little bit of respect'; Eddie Jones slams Italy tactics

Italy coach Conor O'Shea was pleased with his side's display in their 36-15 defeat to England in their Six Nations game today.

O'Shea believes they should be taken more seriously in the competition.

The win moved England back to the top of the championship table and kept alive their hopes of a second successive Grand Slam.

The Italians remain bottom of the table following three successive defeats.

"We have a massive job to do but we will do it and we have to think differently like we did today," he said.

"We didn't come here to make up numbers.

"But you're playing against a brilliant team who are on-form and they worked their way through it.

"We thought we might come away with a bonus point but we're here not to be plucky losers.

"We're learning at the highest level and hopefully we've earned a little bit of respect here today."

England head coach Eddie Jones was unhappy with Italy's tactics, including their refusal to form rucks.

"Congratulations to Italy, strategically they were smart today, but it's not rugby so let's be serious about it, it's not rugby today," Jones said.

"I'm not happy what happened today, I don't think that's rugby. I played rugby a long time ago, I've coached rugby. I understand what Italy did and I'm not angry with what they did, but I just don't think it's rugby."

Jones also said he was pleased with England's progress in the tournament.

"We're exactly where we want to be in the competition, if you said after three rounds we'd be undefeated with one bonus point we'd be doing handstands," he added.

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