England need to get their aerial tactics spot on

Perception is everything and opponents will look to the skies as they target what could be seen as a weakness in Eddie Jones’s side

Which is why there is still debate over Daly.

Listen, I am a huge Daly fan. He is an incredibly versatile player; searing pace, a sledgehammer of a left boot, and what an incredible footballer. It is hard to imagine an England team without him in it. I just think he is not yet totally comfortable at full-back. More importantly, that is what England’s opponents believe and they are targeting him.

Dan Biggar had already served notice of Wales’s game plan last weekend with an early bombardment of high balls, one of which Daly dropped.

And George North’s decisive try came from a lack of awareness from England’s covering backs; with Anthony Watson in the bin, Biggar twice put in crossfield kicks which England failed to deal with. Late in the game, there was another free-kick from a scrum which was kicked long to the left-hand corner. Again England’s back three were caught out of position, allowing the ball to bounce, giving Wales’s chasers another two or three seconds and forcing England to rush the return kick.

Leigh Halfpenny was then able to put up a kick, run 20-30 metres and catch it uncontested, as shown in the graphic below.

There is no doubt other teams will have taken notice. Perception is everything.

I do not want to be overly negative. I think there is way more for England to be positive than negative about at the moment. We are talking incredibly fine margins here. Wales are the No 1 team in the world, for goodness’ sake.

But I do think Daly put his selection for today at risk. I am actually a little surprised Eddie Jones did not go with Watson at 15. Daly’s missed tackle on Gareth Davies at Twickenham the previous weekend, again shown in the display below, was also a concern for me. When Watson went flying down the wing, and produced an unbelievable step, Halfpenny got just enough on him that it allowed Aled Davies to make the cover tackle.

When Gareth Davies went one-on-one with Daly, however, Daly did not manage to lay a finger on him and Davies jinked through for a wonderful try. The great full-backs will always get something, anything, a little bump that slows the runner down momentarily.

Again, I do not want to be too negative. Daly has also produced some outstanding moments at full-back and has plenty of credit in the bank from the past 18 months. It is just the odd lapse that worries me. Maybe it is just me panicking, but sides who control the aerial battle tend to win games.

It is hard to know what England would do if they did take a different route.

In some respects they have an embarrassment of riches in the back three with Daly, Watson, Cokanasiga and Jonny May. Plus Jack Nowell still to return (until he is fit and playing I don’t think there is any point factoring him into the equation). But it feels slightly as if they are only awesome with the ball. What about without it?

May has to start. That was one of the biggest takeaways from the Six Nations. He has taken his game to another level. But the other two positions are debatable.

If the World Cup final were tomorrow I would probably go with Watson at full-back, Daly on the wing and Cokanasiga on the bench. But then you are losing your Ben Cohen – your big, burly winger. If I were a centre playing in front of a back three of Daly, May and Watson, I would be thinking: “Who’s carrying the hard line here?”

The worrying thing is that with all the great teams – the All Blacks, Manchester United, any great team you care to mention – you could name the first-choice line-up. We are a month out from the World Cup and we are still unsure about England’s.

I still think it will take an unbelievable performance to beat an England team playing at or near their best. But at the moment their opponents will look to the skies and believe they can attack them there. Perception is everything.