Opinion: A good time for England to take a leaf out of Rassie’s book before getting too loud
England's Henry Pollock with an inset of Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
An hour after England had beaten Australia at Twickenham to some acclaim, the other national stadium in London was illuminated in the green and gold colours of rugby’s world champions.
It was a timely reminder that encouraging though England’s 25-7 defeat of the Wallabies undoubtedly is, the standard continues to be set by South Africa.
Ten miles to the north of Allianz Stadium, where England’s bench sparked a decisive three-try final quarter, the architect of the original Bomb Squad was holding court.
Rassie Erasmus had watched his team stick nine tries on Eddie Jones’ Japan, a side which got within four points of Australia a week ago. He had witnessed another virtuoso display by his brilliant young fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and was addressing the importance of keeping feet on ground.
Learning to win
The Springboks have won the last two World Cups and the two most recent Rugby Championships. By any metric, they are the best in the business. In Feinberg-Mngomezulu, they have a generational talent.
So Erasmus was entitled to rave about a 23-year-old who scored 37 points against Argentina in Durban last month. Instead, he pointed out that a World Cup had never been won by a team with a fly-half under the age of 25.
Back at Twickenham images of England’s own prodigy were being wired to media outlets around the world. “All hail Henry Pollock,” ran one headline above one of many shots of the peroxide flanker, mobbed by teammates, celebrating his try.
Steve Borthwick’s side have won eight games in a row, a season after being unable to buy a victory. Through the last four rounds of the Six Nations Championship, across a tour of the Americas and back to Headquarters, they have beaten all-comers.
They have gone from an outfit unable to defend and too often relying on individuals for tries to a connected team more than competent on either side of the ball.
Since last tasting defeat, in Dublin back in February, England have scored 43 tries at an average of more than five a game. For every try conceded in that period, they have scored two.
“We’ve learned how to win,” Borthwick said ahead of Australia’s visit. “I now want to develop the belief that we will.”
On the first day of November that burgeoning faith in themselves was apparent. Despite limited preparation time and some understandable clunkiness, the intent to play was evident throughout.
It might only have been a one-score game before Pollock, fresh off the bench, skilfully scooped up a loose ball one-handed and tore to the line, surviving a tap-tackle to crawl over for the points.
Always asking questions
But England were always the likelier lads and but for Harry Potter, Australia’s former Leicester Tigers wing, the scoreboard would have reflected that truth long before it did.
Before half-time, he denied Ben Earl a certain try with an incredible defensive play and three minutes later intercepted Fraser Dingwall’s pass, again on his own try line, and took it the length of the field. What should have been a 17-point England lead at the turnaround was a mere three.
Still, a full house, fired up by the sight of the much-loved Lewis Moody delivering the match ball on one of his first public appearances since confirmation of his cruel motor neurone disease diagnosis, remained engaged – full square behind the Red Rose brigade.
They responded positively to a game plan heavily influenced by Lee Blackett, in his first game as permanent attack coach. Always asking questions, probing what may be possible.
What was it Jonathan Joseph had told Planet Rugby about the former Bath coach last month? “The way us, as supporters of English rugby, want to see this team play, he will definitely unlock that potential.” No word of a lie.
As a launch pad into the autumn this will do nicely. Late tries by Alex Mitchell and Luke Cowan-Dickie put a gloss on the scoreline, but no more than England deserved.
Now, however, is not the time to lose the run of themselves, as they say in Ireland.
Taking a leaf out of Rassie’s book
The volume always goes up around England when they string together any number of wins. Mix in the rise and rise of Pollock and things, you can be pretty sure, will get pretty loud this month.
A good time, then, to take a leaf out of Rassie’s book and dampen the hype.
Australia were without many of their biggest hitters: Will Skelton, James O’Connor, Len Ikitau and Tom Hooper ludicrously ineligible as the Test was scheduled outside the official international window.
Their presence would have made a difference.
Furthermore, England beat opponents who were put under the pump in a big way by Jones’ Japan in Tokyo a week ago.
That result rather puts into perspective both this one and South Africa’s 61-7 rout of the Brave Blossoms under the green and gold Wembley arch.
England are a team on the up, of that there is little doubt. If they can stay in the moment and build week on week they will continue in the same upwards direction as South Africa.
But it is an if. Unlike the Boks, they have won nothing yet. In fact, they have won nothing this side of the Covid pandemic. Five years and counting.
READ MORE: World Rugby rankings: How the All Blacks, Springboks and England’s wins impacted the standings
