Owen Farrell said he hoped his side had lifted the spirits of the nation by clinching the Six Nations title, before immediately training his sights on adding the Autumn Nations Cup crown in the coming weeks. England was plunged into a second national lockdown shortly after Eddie Jones’s side claimed a bonus point win in Italy and France’s subsequent 35-27 victory over Ireland ensured a third title in five years. England had laboured against Italy before eventually clinching a 34-5 victory with Ben Youngs scoring two tries on his 100th appearance before Jamie George, Tom Curry and Henry Slade all crossed. England’s failure to fully thrash Italy, however, had left the door open for Ireland, who would have claimed the title with a win of six points or more. France could also have sealed an unlikely title but would have required a win by 31 points, and both side’s failures to achieve what they needed ensured England sealed the trophy, boosting the Rugby Football Union’s coffers by around £5m. England were due to fly home on Sunday morning and they will be awarded the trophy at a presentation at their south-west London training base at around lunchtime. Jones’s players will have the rest of the week off before meeting up to prepare for their opening match of the Autumn Nations Cup, against Georgia, on 14 November. “We know how difficult things are for everyone at home at the moment and we’ve been saying all through our training camps how we want to do our bit to make people smile,” said Farrell. “Hopefully we’ve done that and we’ll do more of the same throughout the autumn. “It’s a massive achievement for us as a group to win the Six Nations in the strangest year and circumstances. We really think we can continue to get better and achieve more for England. We’re turning our attentions now to the Autumn Nations Cup, we want consistent success and we’re working hard to be better in each and every game.” Having been denied the chance to warm-up for Saturday’s Six Nations finale because last weekend’s match against the Barbarians was called off in farcical circumstances, Jones admitted that England were decidedly rusty in Rome. Ultimately the winning margin of 29 was just two fewer than on England’s two previous visits to Rome but it was not the procession supporters were hoping for. It left England anxiously watching events unfold in Paris at their hotel where Farrell, the captain, confirmed his side had “have a few quiet drinks” in honour of Youngs, George – who won his 50th cap – and the four new debutants, Jonny Hill, Ollie Lawrence, Ollie Thorley and Tom Dunn. “I’m very proud of all the players and staff,” said Jones. “They’ve reacted superbly to the changing situations in the past couple of weeks and remained focused on the goal of winning the Six Nations. We’ll have a couple of days’ rest then get back together and put everything we have into our preparation for the Autumn Nations Cup. It’s another really important tournament for us and I’ll be expecting the same levels of application as we work towards performing at our best. “We certainly tried to play with a lot of passion and intent. I hope the fans at home enjoyed the game and feel a little bit better about themselves because we’re going to go through another tough period, aren’t we? If we are allowed to continue to play international rugby, which we’re hopeful of, we have to make sure we do everything we can to help society. “We’d also like to thank all of our supporters. It’s strange not having fans in the stadium and we know it is a tough time for the country but we felt your support throughout the campaign and it does make a difference. Hopefully we can continue to deliver more good moments for our fans in the coming weeks.”