EDDIE DELIVERS ANOTHER EPIC
England blitz Boks and extend winning start to 10 for inspirational coach
INJURY CRISIS? What injury crisis? England’s build-up to the first autumn international of the season may have been horribly disrupted but Eddie Jones is forging a squad blessed with depth, quality and a growing self-belief.
Whisper it, but this England team is now seriously good.
This was a comprehensive demolition of a South African team that may not have lost to England in a decade, but is showing alarming signs of terminal decline.
On this evidence, it will be a long time before England lose to the Springboks again.
The visitors scored two secondhalf tries to add some gloss to the scoreline but, make no mistake, Jones’ upwardly mobile team were in a different class.
For periods of the second half, England toyed with their oncevaunted opponents. This four-try shellacking was one of the most comprehensive victories they have produced on Jones’ increasingly impressive, undefeated 10-match watch.
Even horrendously slippery conditions, the result of heavy morning rainfall across west London, could not knock England off their stride.
Scrum half Ben Youngs pulled the strings superbly and Billy Vunipola made his latest compelling case to be named the best No 8 in the world.
Youngs produced his best performance in an England shirt for more than two years, twice embarrassing Pieter-Steph du Toit to set up tries for George Ford and then Owen Farrell with outrageous dummies. Vunipola was typically immense, carrying 18 times and defending with almost as much cunning as power.
By accidently knocking out South Africa’s hulking lock Eben Etzebeth with a clash of heads half an hour in, Vunipola also removed one of the Springboks’ most dangerous forwards.
England started slowly — perhaps inevitably, with 10 players from the summer tour to Australia missing through injury — but pulled away impressively once they got into their stride. Half backs Youngs and Ford played the difficult conditions intelligently while the pack blunted the Springbok eight with surprising ease.
Mistakes were made, inevitably so in such treacherous conditions, but the saying goes that good sides win playing badly. England, unquestionably, are a good side.
Jones said: ‘Having not beaten South Africa for 10 years, to win by that scoreline is fantastic.
‘We’re certainly not satisfied with our performance. There are areas of our game which really need tidying up. But it was our first game. We’ve got 10 of the squad that went to Australia not here so we’ve had to put together a new team and get people to understand how to play.’
Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes were hugely impressive in place of first-choice locks Maro Itoje and George Kruis. Farrell scored the fourth try, courtesy of Youngs, and kicked six from seven attempts for a personal haul of 19 points.
With South Africa picking an enormous pack averaging 18-and-a-half stone a man, which included 6ft 7in lock Du Toit at openside, England’s tight five fronted up magificently. The home second-row pairing provided a plentiful supply of line-out possession.
The off-the-top delivery from Lawes which sparked the clever midfield move that led to Jonny May’s 11th-minute try was the sort of possession threequarters crave.
Jones said: ‘It showed we have great depth in that lock position. Courtney’s played his 50th Test and his next 50 is going to be better than his previous 50. South Africa picked three locks so winning the ball at the line out was always going to be difficult. I thought we did that smartly and used the ball really well.’
Farrell combined effectively with Wasps centre Elliot Daly while Ford was impish and intelligent in his distribution, kicking from hand and allround attacking play.
By scoring four tries — two in each half — England maintained their habit of scoring 30 or more points under Jones. Barring an early spark from the visitors which saw them take a 6-0 lead, the home team never looked like recording anything other than a thumping win.
Disciplinary problems which saw referee Jerome Garces penalise England six times in the opening quarter were rightly identified as an area to work on ahead of next Saturday’s Twickenham clash with Fiji. But the problems are fixable. England are winning in cruise control.
‘There’s plenty to work on, with discipline being a key area,’ said captain Dylan Hartley. ‘It’s the start of our series and we’re very happy to get that monkey off our back.’
With Daly making an assured first start at outside centre — kicking a wonderfully-struck, long-range penalty just before half time and running a sublime decoy line which created space for May’s well-crafted try — Jones’ midfield options are also plentiful.
While he was critical of his team’s overall display, he cannot help but be impressed by the depth of resources now evident in English rugby. He bloodied debutant forwards Kyle Sinckler and Nathan Hughes and centre Ben Te’o in the second half as his side pulled clear.
When he took over less than 12 months ago, Jones was adamant England possessed no world-class players. Now Itoje, Farrell and Billy Vunipola are on a six-man shortlist for world player of the year.
It is testament to how Jones and his coaching team are driving players to exceed their own expectations.
‘There’s always been depth in England rugby,’ said Jones. ‘But I think it’s about the players having more ambition. I think we’re starting to see players have more ambition to be top-class international players.
‘One of the most pleasing things for us is to have three nominations for world player of the year now. I don’t think we’re going to win it but it’s nice we have players who want to be top-class internationals.’ Not perfect, but still very good. On this evidence, the upward curve of the Eddie Jones tenure is continuing.
These are very exciting times for England fans.