ONLY WAY IS UP
The sky is the limit for Jones’ England
ENGLAND’S win over Australia was the result and performance they needed to boost confidence ahead of what could be one of the most competitive Six Nations ever.
It might sound strange saying that about a side who have lost just once under Eddie Jones but with a few questions hanging in the air I sensed England really needed to step up on Saturday after disappointing displays against Ireland and Argentina. And they did.
the scoreline was flattering to a degree but that was a top-notch performance in difficult conditions against the world’s No 3 ranked side, who have been bang in form. A feelgood factor will descend on the squad now and the body language will be extremely confident.
It was a fascinating, hectic match with plenty of talking points and it took a good time to digest it all.
I can think of no reason why Michael Hooper’s try wasn’t allowed. Let’s face it, that was a huge decision and I’m not surprised Michael Cheika was very upset and animated about it — I would be.
My gut instinct at the time was it was a legitimate score but then everybody started saying Hooper was offside when tevita Kuridrani kicked ahead so it wasn’t a try.
But hang on. that makes no sense. there are numerous occasions when a fly-half or full back sits back and kicks ahead and makes no effort to chase the ball. Often his entire team will technically be offside until the man who dropped back chases ahead to play everybody onside. the players in front of him do not stop in their tracks, they cruise and take care not to interfere with play until they are onside.
that’s surely what happened. Hooper, realising that he was in front of the kicker, clearly slowed until the Australia wing played the entire team onside. It was no different to the other scenario except it resulted in a try.
It was an incredibly harsh call and, in the spirit of the game, I believe a wrong call. If we’re going to apply the law to the letter it will make for an impossible stop-start game. Hooper was also unlucky to receive his yellow card, which added insult to injury.
the touch call — or not — in the build-up to Elliot Daly’s try was inconclusive while there was further controversy over the disallowed try from Marika Koroibete. It was touch and go but it was the correct decision. Maybe there is a lesson there for the modern player.
Stephen Moore was running ahead of the ball carrier and drew Chris Robshaw’s attention, who half-tackled him before turning his attention to Koroibete as he barrelled through. Again it’s a scenario you see frequently further down the pitch when it doesn’t result in a try, somebody running a subtle blocking line. It rarely gets penalised then and that is what was so frustrating for Australia.
Part of me was hoping the try would be awarded to make it 13-13 and set up a battle royal in the closing stages to test England.
Against Samoa, England need to tread a fine line between maintaining momentum and using the last autumn match to find out more about some of the fringe players.
It really is time to give the dynamic trio of Ellis Genge, Jamie George and Harry Williams a start. Having said that, Dylan Hartley had his best match in a good while. He was very effective and continues to lead the squad well. the pressure that George is exerting on him is reigniting his game and I’d have loved to have seen him play 80 minutes.
Joe Launchbury seized his opportunity and was a good choice as man of the match. He reminded us what a strong carrier he is, an area in which England need options without Billy Vunipola.
Launchbury has earned another start alongside Maro Itoje so I would like to see how Courtney Lawes goes as the starting blindside. He did well in the reshuffle after Sam Underhill went off and Samoa would be a good test for him. If Underhill passes his protocols he should play again with Sam Simmonds at No 8.
Elsewhere Danny Care was on fire and should start against Samoa. Scrum-halves need game time to keep their eye in at this level. I also want to see Owen Farrell at fly-half. He’d benefit from a match there and it would be very instructive to see Henry Slade at 12 in a team on the front foot, as England should be against the Samoans.
As for the back four, pick them again en masse and give them another 80 minutes together. Samoa could bring out the best in them.
there is still much work to do but we should congratulate Eddie, Hartley and everyone involved with this group — the bounce back from the shambles of the 2015 World Cup and winning 21 out of 22 test matches is really astonishing. And the positive thing is they are still on an upward trajectory.