5 things we learned

Don’t pay the penalty

Giving away six penalties in just 18 minutes is unacceptable for a side looking to win a World Cup in 2019. Pat Lambie hit three of them before England got their act together. Eddie Jones will be annoyed at the stuttering start — champion teams don’t do that. After all, Ireland only conceded four in 80 minutes against the All Blacks last week.

Daly’s cannon a real asset

When Elliot Daly lined up a penalty from 51metres out on the stroke of half-time there was little doubt he would make it. The 24-year-old has been knocking them over from halfway for years now and this could be a real weapon for England. If you can kick from so far out then any penalty in a seemingly innocuous position can provide vital points.

There’ll be sterner tests

England not defend especially brilliantly yesterday, but they did not have to. The Boks came to beat Eddie Jones’ team up but forgot you have to score tries to win most Test matches. Damian de Allende carried quite well but JP Pietersen and Ruan Combrinck hardly saw the ball. Argentina and Australia later in the autumn will provide far sterner tests of England’s defence.

Eddie’s spoilt for choice

Jones had to make six changes from the side that completed the whitewash over Australia in the summer, and he lost key men in Maro Itoje, George Kruis, James Haskell, Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell. But the stand-ins performed admirably. Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury are brilliant secondchoices at lock and Elliot Daly may well take Jonathan Joseph’s 13 shirt. Jones has so many options.

Points keep on coming

England were by no means at their best, but still scored 37 points. In ten games under Jones they average 30 points a match. That is excellent work. The All Blacks make a habit of scoring at least 30 in most Tests, and now England do the same. That’s a good sign.