Alun Wyn Jones appeared to be on the cusp of criticising the individual decision that cost Wales victory in their Six Nations encounter against England at the weekend, before stopping himself and admitting “we win as a team, we lose as a team”.

Wales were five minutes from a famous victory over England that would not only have maintained their Six Nations Grand Slam dreams, but halted Eddie Jones’s 100 per cent record that now stretches to 16 games unbeaten. The Welsh lock, who succeeded Sam Warburton as national team captain this year, has never been one to mince his words, and he was brutally honest about how his side failed to hold on against their fiercest rivals on Saturday evening.

“There was a lot of emotion in the game but I don’t think it was solely played on that,” Jones said afterwards. “We were a bit more clinical – or tried to be at times – tried to be smarter, use the ball more, but ultimately it was a performance that fell short. A vast improvement on the 35 minutes that have probably been missing in the past but we fell short. Simple as.”

But it was his comments on what happened in that 75th minute that really struck home. Centre Jonathan Davies failed to find touch with a poor clearance kick from deep in his own try area, with regular kicker Dan Biggar recovering from a ruck, and that allowed George Ford the chance to trigger an England counter-attack.

Shifting the ball through the hands of Owen Farrell, a sumptuous pass on the move from the inside centre released Elliot Daly, who outpaced the tired Alex Cuthbert to score in the corner and win the match. That Davies and Cuthbert, who was drafted in on the day of the match when George North was ruled out, were at fault appeared to play on Jones’s mind afterwards, but he wasn’t going to call out his own teammates for their errors.

“I’m very cautious in what I say because we win as a team, we lose as a team,” he said. “There were errors and penalties that piggy back then, down the park. If we kick loosely we’ve got to then open out. We didn’t open out and gave them an edge.

“I think we go back a few years, ‘earning the right to go wide’ was the buzz phrase everyone was saying. Now they talk about edges and they had that today when we didn’t open out. It’s a pretty basic thing.”

Six Nations team of the weekend - round two Show all 15 1 /15 Six Nations team of the weekend - round two Six Nations team of the weekend - round two stuart-hogg3.jpg Bagged his third try of the tournament as his footwork left Baptiste Serin of France on his heels. Could have done better to prevent Gael Fickou’s score, but his attacking flair still ensured he was the standout 15 this weekend. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two elliot-daly1.jpg His match-winning try will go down in English folklore, but it was his determination to chase Dan Biggar and beat him to the loose ball after his interception that saved England in Cardiff. Has jettisoned into Lions contention over the last two weeks. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two garry-ringrose1.jpg If he eased himself in last weekend Ringrose dazzled against Italy as he beat five men and made more metres than anyone else in Rome rout. Bagged a try of his own for good measure. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two gael-fickou1.jpg A constant thorn in the Scottish defences’ side as he combined power and precision to burst open gaps in the line. Took his try very well, reaching out to score that immediately capped the Scots’ momentum. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two liam-williams1.jpg Just ousts Simon Zebo thanks to his illusive running against solid defender Jack Nowell and beautiful line the cut through the England defence and score on the stroke of half-time. Had another chance when he combined with Jonathan Davies, and unlucky to be on the losing side come the full-time whistle. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two dan-biggar1.jpg About as good a defensive display as you will see from a full-back. Made an exceptional 14 tackles as Nathan Hughes tried to ram the ball down his throat, and his interception on his own line saved Wales from conceding and gained them 80m in the process. Unlucky not to bag himself a try, as the combination of Nowell, Daly and a forward pass robbed him of three chances to score. Getty Six Nations team of the weekend - round two rhys-webb.jpg Unlucky not to score when his lunge for the line saw him ground the ball short, but he opened the space for Liam Williams to touch down with a smart line at the English defence. Could find himself in trouble for what looked to be a deliberate knee to Maro Itoje though. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two cian-healy.jpg A very good showing from the loosehead as he got the better of Sinckler in the scrum and it was fitting that he departed in the 51st minute by winning a penalty at the set-piece. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two niall-scannell.jpg In at the last minute following Rory Best’s unavailability through illness, Scannell coped exceptionally well and helped run a 100 per cent lineout in Rome. Chipped in with seven carries for a 21m gain too to allow the back-row and back line to take the glory. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two dan-cole.jpg Came up trumps for England when it mattered most as Wales chose to scrum a penalty that resulted in Cole turning in Rob Evans and relieving the pressure, proving the old dog still has some bite left in him. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two joe-launchbury.jpg A brilliant display of determination with the ball and grit without it as he led the way with the most tackles a well as the second-most carries, and combined with Itoje to drive home England’s advantage in the scrum. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two courtney-lawes.jpg One of his finest performances in an England shirt that proves he’s another benefitting from the Eddie Jones effect. One bone-shuddering hit on Biggar set the tone for England’s defensive display, and also contributed with an impressive 20 tackles. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two cj-stander.jpg Three tries will always go a long way to getting you in the team of the week for any flanker, but that only tells half of the story. The Munster man was unstoppable, making 73m and beating 11 defenders and helped put Italy out of the game before half time. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two kevin-gourdon.jpg The standout French forward as they imposed themselves on the Scottish pack, both in the scrum and the loose. Scotland had no answer when it came to scrum time, but it was Gourdon’s running with the ball in hand that really stood out and he also put in some monster hits defensively as the opposition crumbled. Six Nations team of the weekend - round two nathan-hughes.jpg Beats Jamie Heaslip to the shirt by the slimmest of margins, but it was his ability to break the gain line that wins him the shirt. Smashed his way through the line with 22 carries and his 75 metres contributed enormously, none more so than the smart break from the base of a ruck that led to three points.

Where Warburton may have described the pain of such a harsh defeat in the past, Jones let out a stern “no” when asked if the loss was one of his most frustrating results to take. He also called on the entire squad to “improve as a team”, but was prepared to carry the decision not to take shots at goal when offered on his own shoulders.

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