England are in good shape, now for a

Seismic win over Ireland suggests Jones’ side is hitting top form just in time for the World Cup

The past 13 days have not guaranteed England anything in Japan. They have not secured a get-out-ofjail-free card, or earned a divine right to move into the knockout stages just because they demolished Ireland in a

warm-up game on home soil. But what they have done is send a number of warnings.

A performance like that against Ireland has the squad bouncing off ceilings, desperate to get back out on the park. It was not perfect by a long way, but it was quality.

As a sportsman, you may never find a perfect game. Keep aiming for it, however, and you tend to catch excellence – and that is now the benchmark for all the players in the squad. Those who played know they have it within them to take the best side of 2018 to the cleaners. Those that did not, now know how well they must train and play to have a chance of getting a starting jersey in Japan.

It also fires a little warning shot to other nations that England are coming to the boil at the right time. Opponents will rightly point out that England have not performed that well for any consistent period and so there is no aura of invincibility around them after one hit-out. But it certainly shifts the dynamic ever so slightly as to how England are regarded. The teams they come up against will now know that there is power and skill in depth. How it is deployed is another matter.

Henry Slade and Jonathan Joseph were probably thinking Manu Tuilagi would play 12 in the tournament and one of those handsome devils would be in at 13. That is how I would do it, though some others disagree. Clive Woodward, half-decent selector that he was, would play Tuilagi at 13 and stick with George Ford and Owen Farrell at 10 and 12. Mike Tindall, the World Cup-winning outside centre, thinks I am a buffoon for contemplating playing Farrell at 10, with Tuilagi at 12 and Henry Slade in the 13 slot. Tindall is keen to see Ford and Farrell stay together, even if prior to the Ireland game that combination had lost four on the trot when they started together.

But put in a performance as seismic as the one against Ireland and the tougher days get forgotten.

The debate is a fascinating one – it is easy to shut Mike down by pointing out that he never knew anything about tactics anyway; he just ran around and smashed things. It is less easy to win the argument when Clive takes his side. In the end, Eddie Jones will do what he wants, no matter what the touchline generals say, and if anything, the Ford-farrell debate post-ireland is one that is driven by England’s depth in numbers and the quality of options Jones now seems to have at his disposal.

Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury must be wondering what the heck they have to do to get a starting jersey in the second row in Japan, and playing against Italy offers them the chance to stay in the hunt. In simplest terms, they must go beyond themselves. They have to play better than they thought was possible. Maro Itoje and George Kruis were utterly fearsome against Ireland around the park and in the set-piece.

Mark Wilson, meanwhile, was player of the season for England last year. He looked fit, athletic, sharp of mind, tactically sound, error-free. Last weekend, I somehow forgot about him when talking on TV about back-row options. I had been blowing his trumpet for three years and all I did was talk about moving Itoje to six to allow three world-class second rows onto the pitch to maximise bulk and add some outstanding line-out threats. And that was only because we were discussing possible options if you were not going to start every game