England (13) 37 Australia (16) 21 The moment when good teams become potentially great ones is less about numbers and more about how they make their opponents feel. A record-equalling 14 successive wins – 11 of them by 10 points or more – does not make Eddie Jones's team the world's best, but even the All Blacks can sense the approaching hooves of England.
“If we are peaking like this now what are we going to be like in two years’ time?” asked Ben Youngs, his visible excitement clear for all to see.
And why not? Repeating their Six Nations grand slam trick of last season would not just yield a world record for Test wins by a Tier One nation but also guarantee a feelgood raft of English Lions next summer. If they do negotiate the Six Nations unscathed – always easier said than done – even England’s second team to Argentina next June will be welcomed with some apprehension. Beyond that lies another distinctly winnable home autumn series, with no games presently scheduled against New Zealand until November 2018.
It grants Jones the most precious coaching gifts of all: time and space. England have scored 46 tries since early February and beaten Australia four times inside six months, when they are supposedly in the foothills of a rebuilding operation. They were desperately poor for the first 20 minutes on Saturday, looking a nervous team who, backrow wise, had brought a knife to a gunfight.
Convincing win
To see them end up with a convincing four-try victory was to wonder again what will happen when they play for 80 minutes. Just imagine when Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje and Joe Launchbury are all back available, when they start scrummaging with more devil, when Jack Nowell, Anthony Watson and Elliot Daly are buzzing again or when a fully fit, revitalised Manu Tuilagi shows up. Think of a day when they inject more pace into their back row to complement the existing power and cussedness, or start risking the occasional killer offload.
This England team have already matched their country’s best-ever run but, in many ways, their adventure has barely begun.
Jones even confirmed that both Owen Farrell and Dylan Hartley, two of his main lieutenants, had only been at around 80 per cent of their optimum level this autumn after lengthy early-season injury breaks. While Hartley is under increasing pressure from Jamie George for his starting spot, his influence as captain has been colossal all year. It was Farrell, though, who was singled out by his head coach.
“Owen Farrell is the spirit of the team,” Jones said. “He’s an absolute competitor and always wants to do things well. To win those four Tests when your inside-centre is nowhere near his best is a pretty good effort. He’s the standard-bearer. I remember when I was at Saracens he played a trial against Toulon when he was just 16. Sonny Bill Williams, who was making his debut for Toulon, whacked Owen and stood over the top of him. He just bounced up on his feet and continued like nothing had happened. You could tell he was going to be a good player.”
Crucially, too, Farrell’s goal-kicking keeps England ahead, even when they are wavering elsewhere.
The award for the year’s most improved player, though, is a dead-heat between Vunipola and Youngs, neither of whom were as fit or sharp under the previous regime. Even Youngs has been pleasantly surprised.
“From the moment we rocked up in February and had the first meeting under Eddie. I thought: ‘This is the guy who can get the best out of this side.’ He just instils confidence.”
Being lobbed a bag of sweets as a not-so-subtle message to lose some weight also had the desired effect. “When I turned up he said: ‘You need to be lighter and leaner.’ The way the game is going it is quicker and faster and he needed me to operate at a higher level.”
Youngs’s latest extravagant try-creating dummy – his opposite number, Nick Phipps, bought the whole department store before watching the Leicester man dot down England’s third – also illustrated his burgeoning confidence. Jonathan Joseph’s two opportunistic scores further underlined his consistent value but Jones is not about to allow anyone to grow cosy.
“We’re always looking for x-factor players,” he said, citing the galvanising effect of Nehe Milner-Skudder on last year’s All Blacks World Cup winners. “They make a hell of a difference to your team.”
Itoje is clearly one of those and starting the versatile young Saracens man in the backrow against France would make sense. Daly, too, is too good simply to sit in Joseph’s shadow. Jones says he already knows his Six Nations squad but the English-qualified Sam Underhill, currently at Ospreys, remains one to keep an eye on. Anyone wishing to be involved, though, will have to rip off the changing-room door with desire.
Satisfaction
“The guy I got satisfaction out of playing well against Australia was Marland Yarde,” Jones said. “I remember going to a Quins game about eight months ago and their supporters were going: ‘He’s crap. This guy’s hopeless.’ But he’s really worked hard and had a storming game.”
The need to keep improving further was duly restated at one-to-one meetings with all squad members before they left camp to rejoin their clubs. The only caveat is the heavy diet of domestic and European club rugby prior to England’s next game, at home to France on February 4th.
Leicester, for example, must face Munster home and away, followed by Exeter, Saracens, Wasps, Racing Métro and Glasgow. “It’s pretty relentless,” Youngs said. “The run we have at Leicester between now and February is horrendous .”
The upside is that English rugby’s longer-term outlook has not been so bright for a decade and a half. “If you look at the squad’s average age we still have tremendous players to come back in,” Youngs said. “It’s very exciting. The message is we want to be the number one team in the world and that’s all we talk about. Suddenly you start believing we can be.”
Walking away from Twickenham on Saturday evening it felt less like the end of the Test year and more like the start of something special. ENGLAND: Brown, Yarde, Joseph, Farrell, May, Ford, Youngs, M. Vunipola, Hartley, Cole, Lawes, Kruis, Robshaw, Wood, Hughes. Replacements: Te'o for Farrell (67), Care for Youngs (63), Marler for M. Vunipola (59), George for Hartley (59), Sinckler for Cole (67), Ewels for Kruis (73), Harrison for Robshaw (69). Not Used: Slade. AUSTRALIA: Folau, Haylett-Petty, Kuridrani, Hodge, Naivalu, Foley, Phipps, Sio, Moore, Kepu, Douglas, Simmons, Pocock, Hooper, Timani. Replacements: Cooper for Hodge (69), Speight for Naivalu (69), Frisby for Phipps (69), Robertson for Sio (58), Latu for Moore (73), Slipper for Kepu (73), Mumm for Douglas (61), McMahon for Timani (67). Sin Bin: Haylett-Petty (72). Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa). Guardian Service
