CUTTING EDGE AT LAST FOR FARRELL
Now Eddie says England are ready to rock the All Blacks
England 52
Japan 13
OWEN FARRELL paraded around the pitch with a Samurai sword after the final whistle. It was presented to him by the opposition and it was symbolic of England’s victory, as they cut an underwhelming Japan team to shreds.
Perhaps it will come in handy for Eddie Jones next week. Before England beat the All Blacks in 2019, the coach pulled out a Samurai sword and symbolically slashed a kiwi fruit in half in front of his players. This was a convincing warm-up but Jones knows his players will need to be even sharper to beat New Zealand.
England’s attack was more like a butter knife against Argentina last Sunday but yesterday they offered precision. They played with their heads up, delivering flashes of movement and innovation as they ran in seven tries.
Farrell at inside centre and Marcus Smith at fly-half went looking for openings, although Jones made a conservative appraisal that they should have scored at least 20 more points. The English pack dominated at the scrum, winning penalties to give them easy entries into the Japanese 22.
This was not a day where the hosts went out looking for three pointers. Farrell kicked one early on, but after that they trampled the Cherry Blossoms into the ground. Ellis Genge flew out of the line to stunt the tourists’ attack, and most of the time it was one-way traffic.
Fixing their ill-discipline, England conceded just two penalties in the opening half an hour. They stormed to a 17-point lead, with authoritative full-back Freddie Steward playing a key role. He swooped off Smith’s shoulder to manoeuvre around Japan’s rush defence for the opening try, before running the ball from his own 22 to lay the foundations for Smith to score the second.
‘When you consider that’s Freddie’s 15th test, he’s got a good head on him,’ said Jones. ‘Others take longer to mature. The only flashiness we’ve seen is that ridiculous little moustache he’s got.’
Steward pipped Farrell to the man-of-the-match champagne but insisted there are no plans to pop open his bottle of Bollinger just yet. Tougher challenges lie ahead over the next fortnight.
There were only rare flashes of the Japanese attack that lit up the 2019 World Cup. Michael Leitch made a break from deep in his own territory that ended with a yellow card for Jonny May, but all they had to show for the first half was six points from Takuya Yamasawa’s boot.
Showing his trademark intensity, Farrell sprinted into the guts of a Japanese attack to win a turnover in the final play of the first half. Jack van Poortvliet flashed the ball wide with a long pass to Sam Simmonds, who set up Guy
Porter for a try that left Japan reeling before the break.
Asked for a progress report on Farrell’s partnership with Smith, Jones said: ‘We think Marcus and
Owen can be really good together. Like any strategy, it’s got to keep having results but there’s no reason why they shouldn’t continue. We don’t get a team sheet and put those two names in ink that you can’t rub out. This obsession with saying these two need to be 10 and 12 is not really the way we think. I’m sure Clive Woodward’s got some thoughts about it.’
Farrell was faultless from the kicking tee, converting all of England’s tries. Attacking from a turnover, Genge cut a hard line to score shortly after the break. Then Maro Itoje forced a counter-ruck and Farrell kicked a grubber kick down the short-side for Porter to score.
There was a momentary blip when Naoto Saito darted over for Japan’s only try, finishing off a 13-phase attack on the stroke of the hour, by which time many people in the ground were already talking about the All Blacks.
‘Next week’s an opportunity to play against one of the giants of world rugby,’ said Jones. ‘They’re in a redevelopment period of their game. For an England player, it’s a massive opportunity. If you look at the history of the sport, it’s been going for 150 years and England have won 19 per cent of their Tests against New Zealand.
‘There’s a narrative that says England can’t beat New Zealand but in 2019 we showed that if you’ve got the right attitude and the right game plan then history can be broken.
‘Their team has changed and they’ve got a different coach. They’re playing a slightly different style of game to what they used to but guys who played in 2019 — Owen, Maro, Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola and Jamie George — are going to be important in reinforcing to the others that it’s not mission impossible. If we go after them then they’re there for the taking — and we’re going to go after them.’
Towards the end of the night, fans lit up their phones to create a twinkling effect around the stadium. They had seen enough to relax, and that was before England scored two more through a penalty try and Smith.
The scoreline could have reached 60 but England missed a couple of late chances, leaving Jones with a week to sharpen the sword before his team welcome the All Blacks to Twickenham.