‘NO-HOPERS’ ENGLAND RE-BORN UNDER JONES
Win over Aussies equals best-ever run
FOUR wins from four this autumn, 13 wins from 13 this calendar year under Eddie Jones and a record-equalling 14 wins in succession since last year’s World Cup exit. What a difference a year makes.
Thirteen months since becoming the first home team to crash out of the World Cup at the pool stage, this is a team transformed.
It has been a truly remarkable turnaround. From no-hopers to world beaters in barely a heartbeat. Only New Zealand — who England have yet to play under Jones — and, at a stretch, Ireland can now claim to hold a candle to England.
There is room for improvement and Jones’s team will move into the new year with competition for places as intense as it has been since Sir Clive Woodward’s World Cup winners became the last red rose outfit to record 14 successive wins.
‘I was really pleased with our composure, our resilience, our ability to adapt today,’ said Jones. ‘It’s a good step forward for us. But we can’t get too carried away.
‘We’ve still got a hell of a lot of work to do to become the best team in the world. All the players realise that. But the great thing is we’re developing a real desire to go there.
‘We are only the No2 team in the world — we want to be the No1 team in the world and we are hell-bent on achieving that. It is whether we get the desire — that is what we are aiming to do.’
There is so much to admire about this squad and Jones must take credit for it. Stuart Lancaster — under whose reign the first of the 14 wins came — may have led this generation of players to water but it is Jones who has enabled them to drink.
Last night they were supping champagne. The celebrations won’t be allowed to drag on, though.
England’s man-manager knows precisely how to get the best out of his players and resting on laurels will not be permitted as he strives to turn very good performances into world-class ones.
‘I want the players to go back to their clubs and play like international players,’ said Jones. ‘They can’t be the best player on the ground every week, but they have to play with the intent of being international players.
‘Just because we have won 13 games, there is not one player who would be automatically picked in a World XV — that is a world-class player. We are heading in the right direction.’
No fewer than 11 players were injured in the lead up to this autumn, with No8 Billy Vunipola missing yesterday’s Test with a knee injury. In his absence, Nathan Hughes stepped up on his first start to take the game to Australia following a nervy first 20 minutes for the Wasps forward.
Maro Itoje, World Rugby’s breakthrough Player of the Year for 2016, missed the entire autumn with a fractured hand. In his absence, Courtney Lawes was arguably England’s best forward.
Lawes, who two years ago looked a busted flush at Test level, has been reborn. He was magnificent yesterday, playing 80 minutes of high-quality, high-commitment rugby in the second row.
Lawes, Ben Youngs, Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw have all had their international careers turned around under Jones.
Here, Youngs was magnificent, seemingly single-handedly reinventing the lost art of the dummy, scoring an outrageous secondhalf try that put daylight between the sides but, more importantly, controlling the game superbly with some pin-point box-kicking and sound distribution.
England shrugged off a sluggish start to turn on the afterburners in the second half to dispatch Australia for the fourth successive time.
The Wallabies came out all guns blazing, with three tries disallowed in the first 15 minutes and Sefa Naivalu speeding over in the corner eight minutes in.
Bernard Foley kicked a penalty and conversion to make it 10-0 after 15 minutes before England finally got their act together. Owen Farrell chipped away with two penalties before Jonathan Joseph scored the first of two opportunist tries when he outsprinted the Wallaby defence to gather Farrell’s kick ahead.
Australia went in 16-15 up at half-time but England were transformed in the second 40 minutes. No player better illustrated that transformation than Marland Yarde, who endured a torrid 30 minutes before impressing after the break.
The winger did superbly to claim Joseph’s clever chip ahead when he outstripped Israel Folau before Youngs’ brilliant score from a quickly tapped penalty saw England stretch away.
Sekope Kepu’s scorching try made the final 10 minutes interesting before Joseph intercepted David Pocock’s wayward pass to seal victory on 75 minutes.
The players will return to their clubs for European action next weekend.
They will reconvene to face France at Twickenham on February 4 in the Six Nations. If they complete another Grand Slam, England will be world-record holders.