Glory or disaster. No middle ground. England must win all four of their November Tests and anything less must be construed as failure, if they are to be honest with themselves. They are not meeting the world champions, South Africa, this autumn; if they are to live up to their aspirations and to the apparent power of rugby in the country, they cannot lose.
But how feeble their record is when they play four games in the autumn. They have played a four-Test autumn programme ten times and have won all four just once. They won another series 3-1. The rest were drawn at 2-2 or lost. For a home team, that is pathetic.
They must go thundering into the new year with a whitewashing triumph — and this is the team I would pick to accomplish that.
Spencer’s all-round game makes him the ideal man to start as England’s No9 against Australia
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My generals
It has become too fashionable to choose alleged young bolters at half back. I am picking two men in prime form. Ben Spencer of Bath is arguably the best player in the Gallagher Prem to date this season and George Ford has also been in excellent form. England probably will not pick them as a pair. But why not? They should.
Spencer’s all-round game of kicking, place-kicking, passing, running and generalship is superlative at present and Ford deserves the jersey for the whole autumn. It is harsh, perhaps, to ignore Northampton Saints’ excellent Fin Smith, who did not find his best on the British & Irish Lions tour. But with two generals such as Spencer and Ford England will be best equipped to take on to the field the plans that have been laid down at Pennyhill Park. That has not always been the case in the past.
Hard heads, experienced rugby minds. It is time for both.
Last line
In the problem position at full back I choose a man who in the eyes of some can cause his own problems. Freddie Steward can sometimes look a little ponderous. But on his day he is not only a rock in defence and under the high ball (and rugby at present is a deluge of high balls) but he can also attack with precision and power. At his very best he can be a dominant player for England and he can also add a surprising amount with the ball in hand. With Elliot Daly injured he well deserves a start against Australia in the first Test next Saturday.
Steward can be ponderous at times but he is a powerful weapon in the air
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The edges
England are not the only team in which the wings tend to be chasers and fetchers rather than carriers and strikers, but the head coach Steve Borthwick’s plans allegedly include strike players out wide and England should start with two whose reputations are the highest. Tommy Freeman is another player who did not quite assert his full repertoire on the Lions tour but is a very fine operator, and it is now time that Immanuel Feyi-Waboso stopped being promising and started truly showing what he can do — he has power and devil.
How marvellous it would be to see these two talented men being given a chance to shine and carrying the ball with all the elan and pace which, you suspect, they possess.
Saviours
Emeka Ilione is the best thing that has happened to England since the 2019 World Cup. He has suddenly emerged at Leicester Tigers, juggling his rugby and medical careers, and strikes me as a potential new Courtney Lawes in the lineout and all around the field. He also has the same sharp edges to his game that were common with Lawes. England could emerge from the autumn with an established world-class back-five player.
And the other saviour? Lee Blackett, who has taken over as attack coach, did wonders at Wasps in developing great players and bringing through potentially great players. It is good to hear that Borthwick will give Blackett his head, because Blackett and Ilione could easily be the heroes of the autumn if everything goes to plan. The handbrake has been on for way too long.
England’s autumn TestsNovember 1 Australia 3.10pmNovember 15 New Zealand 3.10pmNovember 23 Argentina 4.10pmThe bench
England have a bench which could easily change games late on. They have two of the most talented and versatile players who will most likely not start the games but be prime (and cross) benchers — in Alex Coles of Northampton and Nick Isiekwe of Saracens. They have a range of talent. Isiekwe could play anywhere in the back five and, at his best, Coles is an international-class lock into the bargain. Two forwards to be treasured, and to be introduced at the correct stages. Versatility and power is some kind of armoury.
Next generation
Remarkably, we had a warming glimpse of England’s next generation in one match last weekend — the Gloucester-Bristol Bears epic when both teams somehow managed to get over their injury crises.
Gloucester’s Atkinson was full of invention in a losing cause against Bristol
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For Gloucester, Charlie Atkinson played as an emergency full back but is a fly half and a potentially brilliant one. Will Joseph has come on in leaps and bounds in midfield and Ben Loader is becoming a very dangerous and punishing wing. The new generation must be cared for, and despite Gloucester’s dire early results they do have international potential when everyone is fit.
And what about Bristol’s fly half, Sam Worsley? In that 49-34 win against Gloucester he was sensationally brilliant in all phases of the game. The succession tumbrel is turning.
Leave out Lions pair
Neither of the much-adored pairing of Marcus Smith and Henry Pollock made much of a splash on the Lions tour, predictably — and if the party were chosen again today they would both be very fortunate to make it. Even the departure of the Saracens No8 Tom Willis would not encourage some of us to draft in Pollock, who really needs to knuckle down and show consistent pace and consistent power in the back row.
Pollock did not make a huge mark on the Lions’ tour to Australia
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Last weekend Smith looked way, way off form (although we read that his data and stats are good, whatever that means). Neither at fly half nor full back — where he is never happy — does he fit in to England’s plan, surely.
High Caluori
Finally, a key call. Do they cap Noah Caluori, the 19-year-old five-try wonder of last week with a high-jumper’s leap and a sprinter’s gas? Go on Borthwick, give him a game. Give Twickers a treat.
Caluori, 19, should be given a chance to show what he can do on the wing at some point in the Test series
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England’s prospects?
As I say, for England not to win all four of the games will be bitterly disappointing. If everything goes well, if the generalship of the team, the power and the replacements’ bench are all humming, they can and will win all four. What a boost that would be to a sport and a rugby nation in desperate need for spectacle and success.