Jonathan Joseph is congratulated by Marlon Yarde after scoring against Australia. Photo / AP
Eddie Jones has insisted that his England side still had much work to do to match the 2003 World Cup winners despite matching their national record of 14 successive Test victories.
The England head coach masterminded a 37-21 defeat of Australia at Twickenham to complete a perfect calendar year but the Australian insisted his team remained shy of world-class status and needed to make great strides to realise his ambition of emulating Sir Clive Woodward's side by winning the 2019 World Cup.
"The 2003 side were a much better side than we are at the moment," Jones said. "They had a very consistent scrum and line-out, we don't have that yet but we are getting there, but they were a much better side than we are.
"We have got until the 2nd November, 8pm Japan time, 2019 [the date of the next World Cup final] to get ready and that is what we are aiming at - we have got to be at our best that night. It is 1020 days [until World Cup starts]. Every day counts."
After his fourth victory over Australia, Jones challenged his side to back up their remarkable feat of completing the year unbeaten - they are the first England side to do so since Will Carling's team of 1992 - by repeating the feat next year.
"If players don't challenge themselves they won't be here and that is the reality of it," Jones added. "We can't get too ahead of ourselves. We're only the number two team in the world and we want to be number one. We've got a long way to go before we achieve that. And we're hell-bent on achieving that. We've got the talent here. It's just whether we get the desire and cohesion right. That's what we're aiming to do."
England outscored Australia by 19 points in a commanding second-half display that included tries by Marland Yarde, Ben Youngs and a second by Jonathan Joseph.
England will eclipse New Zealand's world-record of 18 successive Test victories, set in October, if they go on to complete another Six Nations Grand Slam in March.
However, Jones insisted that none of his players would automatically make a World XV. Asked how many of his players he rated as world-class now, he said: "It has not changed - just because we have won 13 games there is not one player who would be automatically be picked in a World XV - that is a world-class player. We are heading in the right direction."
It will be confirmed next week that England will not face world champions New Zealand until 2018, with the autumn Test series next year set to feature three Test matches in November at Twickenham against Australia, Argentina and a Pacific Island side, most likely Samoa.
Jones is not concerned. "We don't control that, so we are not frustrated," he added. "We will play them when we get the opportunity and if that is 2018, we will play them in 2018."
The build-up to the Australia match had been dominated by a war of words between Jones, who had been mocked up as a "menacing clown" by an Australian newspaper, and his Wallaby counterpart Michael Cheika, but the England coach insisted the victory had not given him any extra satisfaction.
"Firstly I'd just like to apologise, I've forgotten my red nose, but I'll get it later and put it on," added Jones with a smile. "It's just another Test match. To beat the third-ranked country in the world 4-0 is fantastic isn't it?"
Cheika said England had played with a "conservative style" but were the premier side in the northern hemisphere.
"They play a good game," said Cheika. "They believe very much in the style of game they play, a pressure, conservative style and in Australia they scored a lot of tries off errors when we loaded up their attack.
"With their ranking as two in the world [it] shows they are the probably the premier team right now."
As England took a lap of honour, the Wallabies slumped off to the same dressing room in which they finished last year, after losing the World Cup final. This was their ninth loss in 15 Tests this year but Cheika was encouraged. "Two disappointing finishes to '15 and '16, but we definitely improved a lot, got a lot of young lads with test experience," he said. "I'm very positive about the team."