Eddie Jones has insisted that his England players still have a long way to go before they can truly consider themselves as challengers for the next Rugby World Cup.
The Red Rose rounded off a remarkable calendar year by beating Australia 37-21 at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon, making it a perfect 2016 in terms of results.
Victory for England makes it 14 on the spin stretching back to last year's World Cup on home soil, equalling their national record run, but Jones warns that there is work to do if the current crop are to rival the class of 2003 by going all the way in Japan three years from now.
"The 2003 side were a much better side than we are at the moment," The Telegraph quotes him as saying. "They had a very consistent scrum and line-out, we don't have that yet but we are getting there, but they were a much better side than we are.
"We have got until the November 2, 8pm Japan time, 2019 [the date of the next World Cup final] to get ready and that is what we are aiming at - we have got to be at our best that night. It is 1,020 days [until World Cup starts]. Every day counts. If players don't challenge themselves they won't be here and that is the reality of it.
"We can't get too ahead of ourselves. We're only the number two team in the world and we want to be number one. We've got a long way to go before we achieve that. And we're hell-bent on achieving that. We've got the talent here. It's just whether we get the desire and cohesion right. That's what we're aiming to do."
Jones, now victorious over his home nation Australia on four occasions, guided England to their first unbeaten year since Will Carling's team of 1992.
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