PAUL REES

FOURTH in the Six Nations, third in the World Cup. Redemption rather than progress for England given the pool they were in and their highly structured gameplan, but given the relatively little time Steve Borthwick had to prepare the team after the sacking of Eddie Jones, to get within two minutes of the final was as much as could have realistically been expected.
England were at their best against South Africa in the semi-final because the match was fought on their terms in the rain. Fired by a pumped-up Owen Farrell, they kicked high and long, chased hard, hit everything in gre...