True test still awaits

and grabbed his skull cap, it was Wilson who rushed over to protect England’s agent provocateur in the ensuing melee, though he was unable to save George from being pushed over a hoarding. So Le Crunch did make a brief appearance, but not for long enough for us to remember this game as an authentic contest.

Instead, England used it to affirm the promise of Dublin, where their attacking matched their defensive rigour. This is the big change of the last few months. You could always rely on England to smash and smother opponents but the creative spark was missing. They were like a dance company constantly stopping and starting in front of an exasperated choreographer. Often they lacked fluency, subtlety, ingenuity, thrust.

The lights are on now in England’s back division, where Jonny May should be renamed Jonny Will. May has added greater awareness to his footwork and pace. Elliot Daly, doubted by many at full-back, has relegated concerns about his reliability under the high ball to a mere footnote. If fit, Tuilagi is surely England’s World Cup No12. Ben Youngs is a consistently smooth operator at scrum-half. Farrell, meanwhile, has achieved a level of generalship equal to any fly-half in world rugby.

On the Six Nations form so far, Italy and Scotland are in peril for their visits to Twickenham. Wales, in Cardiff next weekend, are another matter.

The full mark of approval is withheld until we see how Jones’ men deal with Warren Gatland’s side in the Principality Stadium. But these England wins were preceded by victories over South Africa (two) and Australia – and a one-point loss to New Zealand. There is more to this than English hype.

“We felt we probably left 15 to 20 points on the field, so there’s a lot more in this team,” Jones said, before firing the first psychological arrow westwards. “We’re facing the greatest Welsh team of all time.”

Already he has achieved something students of managerial trajectories will study with interest – an unlikely revival, after a calamitous first-half to 2018. But there is more to do. Beating Ireland away and obliterating feckless France at home will acquire true weight only if the turnaround continues: to Cardiff on Saturday week, and Yokohama in November.