England completed their perfect Autumn Nations Series on Sunday by surviving a typically resilient Argentina comeback winning 27-23. This stretched their winning run to 11 victories but what did we learn?
Ignoring the win streak, England are building and it feels that they have a lot more room for improvement. With the World Cup two years away, it may be the perfect amount of time to refine the squad and tactics. They have seasoned experience with the likes of Maro Itoje, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, George Ford, Tom Curry and Elliott Daly guiding the squad while younger players such as Ollie Chessum, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock have already banked Lions experience.
England have moved above Ireland and France in the World Rugby Rankings, but are they better? Maybe not, but the ultimate goal is the World Cup in 2027. Ireland and France are already near their peak if they have not peaked already and New Zealand who are ranked #2 seem to be in need of a rebuild. When these teams hit full stride, they are the best in the world alongside South Africa, but the question is: where will they be in two years time?
Despite recent success, England still have ground to make up, but their trajectory is in line for the world cup and we will learn even more during the Six Nations in February/March. In the wake of this Autumn Series, France are favourites (13/16) to retain their crown while Ireland (6/1) and England (7/2) are neck and neck as second favourites. You can use a betting calculator to see how close the odds are.
This series proved just how deep the England squad is with new players staking claims for starting places while being tested by a plethora of injuries. This forced Borthwick to make several big selection calls throughout but maintained his 100% win rate.
Injuries to the likes of Ollie Chessum, Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck, Jamie George, Ollie Lawrence and Fraser Dingwall created big shifts in Borthwick’s setup but the players that came in adapted quickly and created new partnerships. Alex Coles filled Chessum’s large boots, Max Ojomoh looked like he had 30 caps under his belt already while they had the 146 caps of Henry Slade and Elliott Daly to slide back in the team. Meanwhile having a destructive yet experienced bench to come on every game.
The summer proved to be perfect preparation for this. The star players gained priceless Lions experience while fringe players got the opportunity to prove themselves and senior stalwarts such as George Ford, Jamie George, Sam Underhill etc regain form on the Argentina tour. You cannot compile an 11-game win streak while going through this amount of change without depth and you just have to look at the crop of players who are out and did not feature to realise just how deep England’s squad is:
George Martin, Ted Hill, Ben Curry, Nick Isiekwe, George Furbank, Ollie Slieghtholme, Jack van Poortvliet, Harry Randall, Caden Murley, Seb Atkinson, Adam Radwan.
What has been most promising about Steve Borthwick has been his ability to adapt. Maybe we have been so used to a tactically stubborn and rigid Eddie Jones era or maybe Borthwick really has his finger on the pulse. He is picking on form as opposed to reputation and adapts the style of play to suit the opposition.
Fin and Marcus Smith are the future at fly half, but Borthwick is not afraid to call upon George Ford and revert to a less exciting kicking game. It was very successful against Australia and New Zealand, but he brought in Fin Smith at fly half and Marcus Smith at full back against Fiji to take them on at their own game and deploy the back line with a faster tempo.
Argentina was a mixed bag with injuries hampering preparation but even without injuries, Borthwick is willing to rotate selection as well as the tactics which is refreshing to see.
In recent years, England's achilles heel has been their discipline. All too often, we have seen England give away too many penalties and get on the wrong side of the referee. It has been a constant frustration for England fans, but their discipline was better this series, only giving away 39 penalties. Compare that to the top Northern and Southern hemisphere teams this Autumn:
|
Team |
Penalties conceded (last 4 games) |
|
New Zealand |
29 |
|
Scotland |
34 |
|
Argentina |
35 |
|
England |
39 |
|
South Africa |
40 |
|
Australia |
46 |
|
Ireland |
46 |
|
France |
47 |
They are still not near where they want to be, but it is progress and an area that has needed addressing for a long time. Throughout the series, their defence was exceptional and is clearly an area of focus in training. Combine this with better discipline and England will close the gap on the likes of South Africa, Ireland and France.