Saracens Owen Farrell is pleased with the way England have progressed over the course of their Guinness Six Nations campaign, writes Ziad Chaudry.

The opening round defeat against France in Paris seemed a distant memory after their third straight victory at the weekend.

And Saturday's fiery but thrilling 33-30 victory over Wales at Twickenham has given Eddie Jones's troops a realistic chance of a first Six Nations title since 2017 after the French lost 28-17 to a spirited Scotland side at Murrayfield.

"I think we've grown as a team," said captain Farrell who has noticed the strides England have made.

"Hopefully we've grown in many ways and not just a couple.

"That's massive in terms of keep talking about momentum being a big part of the game and for that to happen you got to make sure you are on every part of your game because it's all joined up and I think we've been working hard to do that."

Besides from the Manu Tuilagi red card, which coach Eddie Jones branded as 'bizarre', and Joe Marler reproducing his own version of the famous Vinny Jones clinch with Paul Gascoigne on Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones, England showed a strong physical performance.

Tries from Anthony Watson and Saracens Elliot Daly gave the hosts a 20-9 half-time lead but a sensational Justin Tipuric try 27 seconds after the break put Wales back in contention.

After Tuilagi touched down to increase England's lead he was shown red, but despite the Welsh scoring two very late tries England managed to hold on to victory.

The excellent first-half display was the key to England's success according to Sarries regular Daly.

He added: "I thought it was a good first half for us. We had a game plan coming and we forced that in the first half and to get 11 points up going in the break was perfect for us.

"Obviously their early try in the second half put us on the back foot a little bit but we controlled the momentum after that. We got a good lead and tried to control possession after that."