Rot has been stopped but England still have a long way to go
England flew out of Cape Town last night with several large pebbles tucked away in the hold to place under pillows through the summer months as a reminder of just how uncomfortable and testing a trip this had been.
Victory on Saturday might have been sweet balm, but too much self-satisfaction would be a dangerous delusion. Those stones are designed to trouble their sleep. Jonny May, one of only a few star turns during the three-test series, may well feel able to declare that the team has “got its mojo back”, after a gnarled, grafting win over a flatfooted, dull-brained Springboks side, but the reality is that England were still flawed and fitful in victory, a far cry from assured and potent performers such as Ireland and New Zealand over the same weekend.
England can justifiably pat themselves on the back for pulling out of their nosedive down the rankings with their first Test win in six games, but they should not get carried away. The Springboks made five changes on a whim, notably at fly-half, where Elton Jantjies floundered. It was no surprise that Rassie Erasmus, the head coach, described his side’s display as “terrible”. His selection strategy was, too. South Africa are first up in November and the initiative has been handed over to England.
It has been a sobering, chastening time for England in South Africa. One of Eddie Jones’s constant refrains has been that England are missing “400-450 caps” – as if that would be a cure-all for the problems – yet failing to connect that stat to the fact that the Springboks were far less experienced.
True, South Africa is a mightily tough place to come away from with a series win – it was not until 1996 that the All Blacks, far more regular visitors to these parts, came up trumps in a series – but England’s difficulties against such fledgeling opposition have to carry more weight in any appraisal than their workmanlike efforts at a sodden Newlands.
May was right to commend his team-mates for hanging tough, dogging it out, piling on the pres- sure at the breakdown, forcing the Boks to concede penalties, the boot of Owen Farrell taking due recompense with six successful pots at goal as England rallied from falling behind to a Jesse Kriel try six minutes into the second half.
“In those last 20 minutes we just grew and it felt like the England we are used to playing for,” said May. “You wouldn’t want to say old England is back, you’d want to say we’ll come back better because tough times make you better.”
That is a leap of faith on May’s part. England are still lurching across the landscape of the unproven. Where once you could be certain that they would do as Ireland did in Sydney on Saturday and hang on no matter the circumstances, this tour, as well as their underwhelming Six Nations performance, has put doubt where once there was certainty, conjecture where there was expectation.
But this result does represent a bottoming out and is perhaps even the first indication of an upturn. Saracens lost seven in a row yet finished as Premiership champions. That wheel has yet to turn so radically for England, but they do at least have a reference point. And, in particular, the forwards can at last share some beers with each other in the knowledge that they have earned their refreshment. For the first time in too long, an England pack bore a passing resemblance to an England pack.
There was grunt in the scrum, a decent return in the line-out in tricky, greasy circumstances and far more clout and nous at the breakdown. One of the success stories has been Tom Curry, the flanker, who began the tour as a 19-year-old novice hoping to make a mark and finished it as a 20-yearold performer of some note.
Much as Jones has said that the role of a specialist openside has changed, Curry is proving otherwise, doing the basics of the trade, foraging for ball and linking the play. It was Curry’s quick-witted shovel-on pass to Danny Cipriani in the 71st minute that gave the flyhalf the chance to hook the ball under Andre Esterhuizen into the distant path of May, who touched down for his fifth match in a row.
Joe Marler had one of his finest games in an England shirt, controlled and purposeful, while Maro Itoje rounded off a nigh-on 12-month shift at the coalface with yet another high-energy output. Chris Robshaw also proved that he is not a spent force, although the slow conditions did suit his game.
As for Cipriani, the maverick showed that such a tag is no longer appropriate. The 30-year-old, 10 years after his last start for England, was on-message and in the zone, doing what was needed. Quite whether he ever does manage to strike up a warm and fruitful understanding with Farrell alongside is for another day, as they are not natural bedfellows. And for all Cipriani’s moment of class, the dropped George Ford is far from finished.
Cipriani had received gee-up messages from his mentor, Steve Black, a longstanding crutch for Jonny Wilkinson, on the morning of the match jokingly urging him to imagine the headlines. Cipriani has been reborn and wants more.
“Yeah, massively so, I’d like to think there’s a lot more I can add,” said the Gloucester-bound standoff. “It is for me to make sure I put my hand up and show that I can do everything for this team.”
England’s next assignment is a training camp in August. The yoke has been lifted, but they are well aware that there are deficiencies that need to be worked on.
“We’ve won a game,” said May. “It is a bit of a line in the sand.”
Across which England have stepped. The slump has been checked, the statistical noose of five successive defeats no longer round their neck. But they are some way yet from being reprieved.