Five things to hearten Jones for England’s autumn Tests
19-11
A grinding battle of wit and will at Welford Road on Saturday – featuring seven members of England’s 34-man squad for the autumn – would have given Eddie Jones and his England coaches, in Jersey preparing for the upcoming training camp, plenty to ponder.
Steward’s aerial skills
He does not turn 21 until December, but Freddie Steward continues to ooze authority under the high ball. Sale’s strategy of hoisting box-kicks via combative scrum-half Gus Warr helped keep them in a close contest, but Leicester’s full-back did not drop one all game.
Some of England’s most damaging losses of the Jones era have come after surrendering control in the kicking exchanges. Max Malins, George Furbank and Tommy Free- man are all options for England at full-back and Steward committed a couple of kicking mistakes. However, he also burst through a couple of Sale tackles and would seem poised for a big autumn.
Tuilagi’s defensive work
George Ford has been bamboozling Premiership defences of late. As a means of combating Leicester’s playmaking kingpin, it seemed as though Alex Sanderson gave Manu Tuilagi freedom to identify his former clubmate and surge out of Sale’s defensive line. Tuilagi smashed Ford early on and rushed him into a pass that Dan Kelly fumbled later in the first half. Cover tackles on Nemani Nadolo and Matt Scott showcased impressive speed.
A feature of Tuilagi’s performances in 2019 for England was imposing defence. He could be at inside centre for England this autumn. Alternatively, Tuilagi could be deployed in the No13 shirt. Both positions bring defensive challenges, so this was an encouraging outing.
Youngs gives timely reminder
The next time Ben Youngs runs out for England, he will hit 110 caps for his country and Jones will lean on the scrum-half ’s leadership and experience during a back-line revamp.
Here he was involved in the game’s definitive moment. He gathered Jasper Wiese’s beautiful offload at the back of a rumbling Tigers scrum before delivering a perfectly-timed pass to send Hanro Liebenberg over the try-line. There were scruffy moments, but that split the teams.
Curry’s return from Lions duty
Of the six back-rowers to start at Welford Road, Tom Curry was the lone Englishman in his second outing for Sale since an ultimately disappointing Lions summer.
Curry plundered a number of turnovers on the floor and carried effectively, personifying Sale’s defiance. How Jones uses him this autumn will be telling because the 23-year-old has filled all three backrow slots for England.
Ford’s tenacity
Ellis Genge stayed on for 75 minutes, his might helping Leicester’s scrum to gradually outmuscle the Sale set-piece. George Martin and Nic Dolly, the two remaining England squad members on show, were introduced for second-half cameos.
George Ford, one of this autumn’s highest-profile England omissions, must have caught the eye of Jones. As mentioned earlier, Tuilagi shut him down effectively at times. That said, a handful of stabbed kicks found room up the middle of the pitch. In the second half, Ford held firm and forced a spill when Rohan Janse van Rensburg – some 20kg heavier than him – charged towards his channel. A knock-on brought the Tigers scrum put-in from which Liebenberg scored.