Steve Borthwick has challenged England players to continue improving after their outstanding Six Nations win over France on Saturday night.
The Red and Whites had gone into the contest on a low after being beaten by Ireland last time out.
But England were better on Saturday, with Fin Smith’s late conversion after a try from Elliot Daly enough to secure a 26-25 victory.
Borthwick has now opened up on the clash and backed his players to continue to improve, with the head coach telling ITV: “I’m delighted for the players and happy for the supporters who are always magnificent behind this team. It was a special atmosphere.
Steve Borthwick has challenged England players to continue improving after their outstanding Six Nations win over France on Saturday night
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“You want things to happen instantly. This England team is going to be a good England team and there’s a lot of talent.
“The ceiling is so high and what you’ve got to do is keep working hard.
“Today you saw somethings improve.
“Again bravery and courage with the ball – they’re a team who want to score tries. We scored four tries against a brilliant French defence and restricted them to three tries.
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“It was a great Test match – I’m sure everyone watching at home enjoyed it.”
On Smith, he added: “Really pleased for him in his first start.
“Tom Willis, exceptional again. This is an evolving team and it is a young team – there’s a high amount of potential.”
Meanwhile, Smith was named player of the match.
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The 22-year-old was at the heart of everything positive about England’s performance and his impressive display has now given Borthwick a dilemma.
Smith said: “I think we just really backed ourselves. We knew we couldn’t go into our shells.
“We had to keep playing and keep moving the ball.
“The French are an awesome outfit and I felt like they let us off the hook in the first half and we felt like momentum had to come to us at some point.”
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Steve Borthwick was delighted and hailed Fin Smith after England beat France in the Six Nations
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It was also England’s first Test win since Maro Itoje became captain.
And the Saracens star was understandably delighted, with the 30-year-old saying: “It was a blur.
“For large parts of the game we weren’t as accurate as we wanted to be. I will take responsibility for the line-outs not being as accurate as we wanted them to be.
“One thing I love is we’ll fight for each other, and we are going to believe in each other.
England beat France 26-25 in Saturday night’s Six Nations match
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“We were brave – that’s the foundation of what we want to be doing going forward.
“I am delighted for this team, for the fans, thanks for staying with us. We are going to build from here.”