England may have missed the opportunity to break New Zealand's record for consecutive Test wins, but that's only further fuelled coach Eddie Jones' desire to engineer a crack at the world champions themselves later this year.
A feisty Irish side played spoilers yet again Sunday morning (NZ time), repeating their exploits of November 2016 against New Zealand by denying England their 19th straight win with a hard-fought victory in Dublin.
News emerged last week that England's Rugby Football Union were in talks with the NZ Rugby Union in an effort to organise a blockbuster fixture between the two nations in November.
Stinging from his first defeat since taking charge of the side following England's abysmal Rugby World Cup campaign on home soil in 2015, the Australian reiterated his aspirations to make the match between the world's two top-ranked teams a reality.
"We can't wait to play New Zealand and I am very keen on a match this year," stated Jones.
"I have had a discussion with Ian [Ritchie, the Rugby Football Union chief executive] and if the opportunity comes, we will be raring to go.
"Discussions are being held with New Zealand and in England and there is a way to go."
The 57-year-old went on to press his players' claims for Lions selection on the highly-anticipated tour to New Zealand in June, and he still likes the northerners' chances of toppling the hosts.
"I expect at least 15 of our guys to go on tour with the Lions and will be disappointed if we do not get that many in.
"The Lions have a massive shout, as Ireland showed (in November)."
As for the game itself, while Jones urged his men to take pride in another Six Nations triumph, he recognised they still had plenty of room for improvement.
"We are all human and that is why records finish on 18 games - you get a team that performs above themselves and uses the conditions superbly and we were below ourselves.
"We have been chuffed with the results we have had, but the reality is we still have a lot to do."
"Not many teams have a 90% record, but we have a pretty good average: Don Bradman had a zero in his final Test."
Newshub.
