JEREMY GUSCOTT
OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK
England are clearly in a better place now than they were when they started their tour to Australia, and victory in the decider over the Wallabies at the SCG in Sydney yesterday, and the 2-1 series win that it secured, is brilliant.
It should build team confidence, and the mixture of the old and the new in the squad showed some reasons for optimism. Winning the last two Tests was what was needed, because the defeat in the First Test was not good, especially following on from such a poor Six Nations.
However, this England squad will know that this was far from perfect.
They raised their game in the Second Test in Brisbane, but in the Third Test they struggled to do it again, and seemed a little nervy at the start – and even though they shut out Australia when they had to in Sydney, they will know that they can be better than they were.
One thing the series confirmed for me is that Jack van Poortvliet is now England's number one scrum-half, but it is essential that he has to start for Leicester in the Premiership when the new season starts, rather than being in and out.
Van Poortvliet's box-kicking was again on the money, as was his allround game, and I was not surprised Danny Care was hooked off by Eddie Jones after a couple of poor kicks and tackles. What was a surprise was Jones making the wrong selection call at scrum-half in the first place considering how well Van Poortvliet played in Brisbane. Hopefully, the England head coach will own up to that mistake now, rather than write it in a book in 18 months' time.
There were a number of players who stood out, including Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Freddie Steward and Tommy Freeman. However, it was hard to understand why Freeman was replaced when he was creating chances. Why take players off when they are playing well?
Steward was brilliant at times in attack and defence at full-back, and with Freeman, Marcus Smith, Henry Arundell, and Van Poortvliet you have got the makings of a backline that could be there for another eight years.
The only drawback for England is having enough big backline carriers who can get over the gain-line. Jack Nowell can be pretty effective, and the same was true of Samu Kerevi for Australia in this series, but Jones has to get it into Joe Cokanasiga's head that he has to make 10 to 15 meaningful runs in a game every time he plays for Bath, and carry it over to international level. If Cokanasiga can add that to his game, and England's, that backline is looking good.
When opportunity knocked for Smith, he took it and showed his pace to score, but there is still a question of who is leading the backline, him or Owen Farrell? This team still don't know who is singing the tune, and who is humming it, and it is up to Smith or Farrell to put it beyond doubt by the autumn.
In the forwards I'm not sure that Billy Vunipola has done quite enough to dislodge Alex Dombrandt at No.8, but at the moment England do not have a really dynamic, aggressive, abrasive back row carrier like New Zealand's Ardie Savea.
“England make too many mistakes to control a game in the way that Ireland do”
Ellis Genge helped England's momentum with one or two good charges in the loose, but the scrum was again mixed, and a bit wobbly.
Ollie Chessum is another young Tiger who did well after being picked at lock in Sydney after Maro Itoje returned home, and I think he has moved ahead of Charlie Ewels in the second row pecking order.
What became clear during the decider was, despite their narrow victory, England make too many mistakes to control a game in the way that Ireland do. I believe that Ireland, New Zealand, France, and South Africa would beat England at the moment.
Frankly, this team under Jones has come from a dreadful place, and are now in a better place – but there are better teams out there. England's best performances have come when the scrum and line-out go well, but when they are matched in the collisions by equally powerful teams, they often run out of answers. For instance, they have none of the flow that the Irish had when Robbie Henshaw scored against the All Blacks.
Another task for Jones is to find more ball carriers in the pack who are explosive and effective. Genge is one, but that is not enough. Perhaps Dombrandt will come through, but we have a lot of good back row players like Jack Willis, Sam Underhill, and Ludlam, who are solid carriers but do not give you that next dimension.
Billy Vunipola played better than before he was dropped, but he is still not as good as he was. If you use the Irish back rowers as a point of comparison someone like Josh van der Flier is so dynamic, and the same applies to Caelan Doris and Jack Conan. In fact, there are strong carriers everywhere in the Irish pack with the second row is working their socks off, and a world-class front row.
If you measure England against Ireland after the summer tours, for me the Irish are 15 to 20 points better, and so are New Zealand.
We should also remember that Jones should have players like Manu Tuilagi, Henry Slade, Anthony Watson, Jonny May, Joe Marler, Kyle Sinckler, Tom Curry, Itoje, Dombrandt, and Ben Youngs available again at the start of the new season, so half the team that played in Sydney is unlikely to start the first Autumn international.
It was a good tour, and a good series win, and the England players should now enjoy a well deserved break.
However, it should not hide the prospect of Jones still not having a settled team by the end of the Autumn series.
