“Obviously we are pleased with the result, having not beaten South Africa for ten years to win by that scoreline today is fantastic. We are certainly not satisfied with our performance, areas of our game really need tightening up. But, it was our first game. We have got ten of the squad that went to Australia not here so we have had to put together a new team and get to understand how we want to play.”
It is a testament to the quality that is housed within this England squad and the potential of just how good they can be that such an appraisal has been made. Later during his post match assessment the words 'we are nowhere near good enough at the moment' were also said by England's head coach. The long and the short of it is that he, and this squad, want to be the very best in the world and nothing else will suffice until they are.
So what else of the game at hand? Well it's safe to say that the opening 20 minutes were a tad rusty and less than ideal from a discipline point of view. England's six penalties gave South Africa the opportunity to be in the match and as expected the Boks arrived with real physical purpose. Yet England were able to turn the tide themselves and get a hold of the match. The ability to turn it mid-half was something that pleased their head coach and such self-reliance is a vital element of all successful Test sides as he shared:
"There was good leadership by Dylan, Owen, Billy, they pulled everyone into line, understood what we needed to do, looked at where the space was against South Africa and attacked that space well.
“It is massively important [to have the ability to fix a game mid-half]. Basically my job is to make myself redundant! When I’m redundant then the team is going to be functioning well."
Across the park there were a number of performances of note and ones that do need to be singled out. At scrum-half Ben Youngs looked as sharp as I've seen him on the Twickenham turf. Not only did he deliver a strong kicking game alongside George Ford but his sniping work was outstanding. The two dummies that he fed to Pieter-Steph du Toit were textbook and I expect that both George Ford and Owen Farrell will be buying the scrum-half a beer at some point soon!
Elsewhere Joe Launchubry, Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood all showed huge engines, the trio hit everything in sight and never took a backward step. Finally, as expected, Dylan Hartley led with distinction. Positionally England’s captain was on form and his management and conversations with referee Jérôme Garcès were measured, timely and fair. The relationship between a captain and the referee on the field is something that isn't often commented upon but in my opinion is critical and Dylan's management there is always spot on.
Across the park there were a number of performances of note and ones that do need to be singled out. At scrum-half Ben Youngs looked as sharp as I've seen him on the Twickenham turf. Not only did he deliver a strong kicking game alongside George Ford but his sniping work was outstanding. The two dummies that he fed to Pieter-Steph du Toit were textbook and I expect that both George Ford and Owen Farrell will be buying the scrum-half a beer at some point soon!
Elsewhere Joe Launchubry, Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood all showed huge engines, the trio hit everything in sight and never took a backward step. Finally, as expected, Dylan Hartley led with distinction. Positionally England’s captain was on form and his management and conversations with referee Jérôme Garcès were measured, timely and fair. The relationship between a captain and the referee on the field is something that isn't often commented upon but in my opinion is critical and Dylan's management there is always spot on.
Fiji are next on England’s list and in terms of selection for that match Eddie Jones has already made his thinking clear:
"We will looking to improve the team, so we will be looking at opportunities as to how we can improve the team in the short term and potentially the long term. So I’ve got an idea of who we are going to select and who we are not going to select. We won’t just be randomly giving caps to guys who didn’t play today, I can assure you that."
In the end South Africa didn't have much in their locker but they still needed to be handled carefully and beaten. The opening 80 minutes of this Old Mutual Wealth Series have clearly showcased the great depth that is housed within English rugby right now and have provided a suitably strong platform for England to work off. Without a doubt this squad will build during this four match series and the possibility of finishing the calendar year unbeaten remains a strong one.
