JEREMY GUSCOTT
OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK
THE last round of the autumn series made everyone's weekend – it was pretty spectacular. France's victory over New Zealand was achieved in style, Ireland backed up against Argentina what they did to the All Blacks, England found a way to win against South Africa, and Wales should have won more easily against 14-man Australia.
That leaves Scotland, who have flattered to deceive over the autumn – and even though they beat England in last season's Six Nations, I am waiting for them to flatter and not deceive. The Scots have to learn to fire over the course of whole championships, not just for part of them.
Watching England at Twickenham last Saturday I got an overwhelming sense of pleasure when Marcus Smith kicked that last penalty against the Springboks. It was his first big moment, and anything can happen in those circumstances, but he kept his composure to put it away. However, there will be more important kicks down the road.
Eddie Jones says it is a big jump between Premiership and international rugby, and it is – but the Premiership is a good standard, and therefore for good players it is not such a big step. Smith looks in his element playing international rugby. I don't think he will come up against better defence than South Africa – and yet he still had time on the ball at fly-half, which is a big bonus for him, and for England.
Freddie Steward has taken the full-back slot by storm, and doesn't look out of place one bit. Jones has been looking for a bloke to own that 15 jersey, and Steward did that with a commanding performance in the air and strong contributions in defence and attack.
At the moment the England head coach is picking utility players like Joe Marchant and Max Malins on the wings, and both of them showed their adaptability when Manu Tuilagi's early injury saw Marchant move to his usual outside centre position, and Henry Slade go to 12.
The best thing about England this autumn was not just the clean sweep, but the tries. Tuilagi scored after a fluid passing movement, and Steward also crashed over to make the most of what they created – but the best of the lot was the Raffi Quirke try.
It was beautifully worked and executed, and great to watch because we see a lot of teams make those breaks and not finish them off. It was a lovely pass by Slade and a great break by Marchant before he put Quirke clear to finish it.
Slade had a good rap after the game, and he deserved it because he is starting to find his footing at international level. However, he still runs across a little too much, and tackles a bit too high – which is why there is still a difference between him and a New Zealand great like Conrad Smith.
It was good to see the England backs function well enough to click in attack, even though the regular captain, Owen Farrell, was missing from the match 23 due to injury.
“My thinking is Tom Curry is a better flanker, and Alex Dombrandt is a better No.8”
Farrell could be missing for a while, but Courtney Lawes has stepped in and done a really good job as captain – as well as producing one of the great moments of the autumn with the spectacular try-line tackle that stopped Tonga's full-back Telusa Veainu from scoring.
On captaincy, I read this week that Eddie Jones does not see Maro Itoje as a captain in waiting, but it's worth remembering that Alun Wyn Jones did not really take over from Sam Warburton as Wales captain until 2017, when he was already over 30.
Jones also talks in his latest book about his decision to drop the Vunipola brothers, George Ford, and Jamie George – but before he was injured it was good to see George playing so well, and managing to force his way back into the England starting line-up. The Vunipolas are capable of doing the same, and I also don't think that we have seen the last of Ford.
In the back row I'm not convinced about Tom Curry at No.8, and my thinking is that he is a better flanker, and Alex Dombrandt is a better No.8. One back row forward who has added to his repertoire is Sam Underhill, who has now developed a more powerful carrying game to go alongside his defensive strengths.
In the front row there is no bigger challenge than playing in a Test against South Africa, and for newcomers like loosehead Bevan Rodd and hookers Jamie Blamire and Nic Dolly not to get wrecked was a great achievement.
Kyle Sinckler has to get on and do his job at tighthead, but I'd still like to see him carrying more. Kyle's got lots more to bring to his game – and he could become the best in the world if he does all the hard work.
Overall, England finished the autumn in a decent place. They had a comfortable win against Australia despite playing a pretty average game, but South Africa was a different sort of challenge.
The period in the second half where England gave away penalty after penalty is one of those places where you need to have big debates and real honesty, because they have to be a lot smarter. The indiscipline could have cost them the game.
It really is about how smart you are, because elite performance is so much about controlling emotion.
Can you avoid dropping the scrum, or going for the scrum-half 's arm? It's about having the mental toughness to judge the right moment, because when you give away penalties it depletes the energy of your team.
In two minutes you can lose 60 yards and all your momentum, so after you make a mistake you have to focus fully to make sure you reset.
That's the work-on for England – but it's what you saw from Ireland for the full 80 minutes when they played New Zealand.
It was a case of no one in green making mistakes, and now Ireland are playing like New Zealand, and beating them.
Then there's the French. Where do you start? They were awesome against New Zealand, and now they will be the side that everyone wants to beat, and which has everything to gain – and to lose.
Antoine Dupont is in such a rich vein of form at scrum-half, and he might just be one of those special players who can make it last for most of a career. Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert are battling it out for the fly-half jersey, but at the moment Ntamack has the starting shirt and scored a gorgeous try to get France on the way, while Gael Fickou continues to make such an impact whether he is at centre or wing.
However, although France have a powerful, mobile pack, they can still become more co-ordinat- ed. When they carry and link with the backs it is poetry in motion, but often it is too disjointed.
The day it becomes connected is the day everyone else can forget about the World Cup.
