Eddie Jones warns France to expect a better England side than the one that beat Ireland

Eddie Jones has warned France to expect a better England side than the one that dismantled tournament favourites Ireland in Dublin last week.

As revealed by Sportsmail on Thursday night, Jones on Friday named Chris Ashton to start on the wing against the French with Jack Nowell dropping to the bench, while Courtney Lawes replaces the injured Maro Itoje at lock.

Jones branded Sunday’s showdown at Twickenham as the ‘most important game of the year’ and England will go into it having put on arguably their best display under the Australian last weekend.

Eddie Jones has warned France to expect a better England side than the one that beat Ireland

But the head coach insisted that was just the beginning and believes this England side can turn it up another notch when Jacques Brunel’s side come to town.

‘We’ll be better this week,’ said Jones, ‘no doubt about it.

‘Last week was just the start. Even our training yesterday was much higher quality than it was in Portugal and I’ve got no doubt we are going to be better this week.’

Lawes made a powerful impact from the bench last week and will start in the second row alongside George Kruis in Itoje’s absence with Joe Launchbury restored to the match-day 23.

It was feared Itoje’s knee injury would put him out of both the France and Wales games, but Jones revealed he was optimistic the Saracens lock would be back for the showdown in Cardiff in two weeks’ time.

‘Maro’s not far away,’ he said. ‘He was almost available for selection this week. But he’s not, we’ve got three good locks; two to start, one to finish.’

Courtney Lawes replaces the injured Maro Itoje at lock for Sunday’s showdown at Twickenham

Mathieu Bastareaud has been named at centre for France and will line up against Manu Tuilagi in a colossal midfield clash, but Jones is confident his team can handle the threat posed by the giant Toulon veteran.

‘It won’t be Manu’s responsibility to stop him, it will be whoever is defending in front of him.

‘He’s a good player and we will show him plenty of respect. But I think we will be able to take care of him.’

Jones revealed he was optimistic Itoje would be back for the Wales clash in two weeks’ time

Despite the praise heaped on England for their victory at the Aviva last week, captain Owen Farrell was keen to look forward rather than revel in the success.

‘It’s not about Ireland anymore,’ he said, ‘it’s about us looking forward. We’ve spent a bit more time together, which is brilliant, and we feel like we are building and getting better.

‘It’s about us getting excited for Sunday now.’