Twickenham wasn’t the only London venue to stage international rugby on Saturday. A few miles north, at Wembley, Eddie Jones’s Japan were shredded by the speed and skill of the game’s towering talent, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Post-match, the former England head coach said: “If Sacha can keep developing his game, learn when to go fast and when to go slow, he’s going to be one hell of a player.” He’s not bad now, but point taken, Eddie.
It was his comment about the speed of his game that really stood out. International rugby isn’t an 80-minute sprint for the tryline. There will be matches when opposing packs stand up to South Africa, days when a fly half has to manipulate the field. Even the Springboks occasionally have to vary the pace of their game.
Yet Jones didn’t say that the South Africa No10 needs to learn when to go fast or when to go slow. He said fast and slow. That’s the Springboks at their best. A tank of a pack with a Formula 1 car of a fly half. England are an improving, ambitious side on an eight-match winning streak but Saturday’s victory over Australia served up something of a warning to those looking beyond the win/loss sequence. There was little from Steve Borthwick’s boys in the way of gear change. It was a powerful grind in third gear with little in the way of overdrive.
Ford, who won his 103rd cap at Twickenham on Saturday, helped to map out the win over the Wallabies with a masterly performance
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
It was a performance chiselled out by George Ford. Here was a traditional craftsman at No10, putting together the sort of calm control expected of centurions. It was a pleasure to watch him map out the match… until I watched the wonders of Sacha. Can England beat the best team in the world without the requisite acceleration of which France, South Africa and New Zealand are capable? Ireland were in the lead, in contention, in Chicago for an hour on Saturday night but New Zealand slipped through the gears and ran away from Andy Farrell’s team for what ended as a comfortable victory. When they went fast, Ireland looked slow.
The best teams in the world all kick from the base of the scrum. At Twickenham, Alex Mitchell was excellent within the confines of the universal game plan. The England scrum half made two tries with accurate box-kicks and slipped over from close range for a deserved solo score, but that is how the elite play. There has to be something else.
As far as England were concerned, that “something else” emanated from Sale Sharks fly half Ford. A brief analysis of the opening quarter reveals his mastery. Three minutes into the match and he lofted a high ball. The influential Tom Roebuck flattened the catcher and England earned a penalty. Ford drilled it near the corner. England charged into midfield from the resultant lineout and, with the Australian defence narrowed, produced a precise crossfield kick. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was in position to catch and score, only for a despairing stray hand from Andrew Kellaway to knock the ball out of his waiting arms. On another day, another referee would have awarded a penalty try. Ford couldn’t have been more precise.
The excellent Mitchell helped to make two of England’s tries and also scored his side’s third
PATRICK KHACHFE/RFU/GETTY IMAGES
High kick, cross-kick — that is one way to stretch a defence and keep them guessing. In the 16th minute, the fly half instigated a counterattack with an awareness of the space around him. He doesn’t have the pace of the South African wonderkid but the Englishman makes the ball do the work for him. Ford fizzed the pass into space. Throw in a fine up-and-under, which resulted in a penalty for his team, and that’s a lovely, understated mix to start the game.
He ran incisive short sides and drew Australian defenders with an array of well-timed passes in a second half when England flattered until fresh legs saw off the tiring Wallabies. Yet something was missing. That something is the “fast” to which Jones referred. In Feinberg-Mngomezulu, it is speed of body and mind.
Ford isn’t slow but at Test level it would be an exaggeration to describe him as fast. He needs someone alongside him to change gear from inside centre. A masterly manipulator, he’ll make a gap but quicker legs and more powerful bodies are needed to exploit his speed of mind. The combination with the cerebral Northampton Saints centre Fraser Dingwall is a dud at 10-12. Ford, who is clearly England’s most complete fly half, requires an explosion of power and pace outside him, not another thinker.
Combining Lawrence and Slade would be a smart move against Fiji on Saturday
DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES
The obvious selection is Ollie Lawrence. Although he has excelled more at No13 than No12 to date, there is nothing to stop him playing as an amalgamation of the two, defending hard at inside centre and running from out to in, the area we saw Tommy Freeman charging without much success in the opening ten minutes on Saturday.
For Fiji, on Saturday, it would be a smart move to combine Lawrence and the bang in-form Henry Slade outside either of the Smith options, Fin or Marcus, at fly half. Ford should be rested before the All Blacks. Slade is the potential bridge to link the inside and outside backs. Freeman is an understandable experiment at No13 but what’s to stop England having another look at him against Argentina in their final autumn Test? Rest him next week and allow Roebuck another deserved start before England’s first-choice right wing returns for New Zealand.
England can play it slow but that’s not enough. They need to find their fast game as well. Ford cannot deliver that on his own. Lawrence and Slade have the capacity to help their fly half in a way that the Saints centre pair of Dingwall and Freeman did not and quite probably cannot.
As Borthwick is busy searching for England’s game, South Africa continue to roar away. Whether Jones meant it or not, the Test game is being turned into a sporting battlefield where the game is played both fast and slow. Fast or slow is history, the early years of professionalism. It’s dated, dead to the leading nations.
England v Fiji
Twickenham
Saturday, 5.40pm
TV TNT Sports 1