After a November of frets and frustration came a chance for fun and frolics for England. Few questions may have been answered about this England team in this Twickenham thrashing, but at least we know that Steve Borthwick’s side can beat Japan: a 59-14 slaying of their visitors ended a run of five successive defeats since they last put their callow opponents to the sword in June.
There was no need for any final-quarter quivers or quibbles after the sort of ruthless, rollicking performance that Steve Borthwick would have demanded. The England head coach had ventured nothing in the search of longer-term gain, naming a first-choice side and tasking them with releasing their autumn angst and anger on an overmatched Japan. They duly obliged, piling points and pain on Eddie Jones, a polarising preacher unable to cause further upset in his past parish.
It was a professional performance that the hosts simply had to deliver given the strength of the side Borthwick had named. In doing that, the England head coach missed an opportunity to further assess the depth of his squad. While Borthwick pointed out in the week that the exciting 20-year-old prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour, who made his debut off the bench here, was his ninth Test newbie of the year, this felt like a missed chance for a some extra experimentation.
There certainly felt like no need for Tom Curry to feature two weeks after another concussion, while England have gone a whole calendar year with Jamie George as their only run-on captain. Might an opportunity for Maro Itoje to lead from the start have been beneficial down the line? It felt like little was gleaned from this final outing of the year.
England would no doubt argue, quite correctly, that a win was a must at this moment, and that they still have new combinations to bed in. Another game in Joe El-Abd’s tweaked defensive system will help ease some of the starkly evident teething problems, while continuing improvements in attacking connection and confidence reaped rewards in a free-flowing, free-scoring showing.
No doubt, these last few weeks have been difficult, but Borthwick and his staff will, as they like to say, take the learnings. If Marcus Smith has seized the starting fly half shirt with razzle and dazzle, it is grit, grunt and no small degree of guile that have left Will Stuart seemingly secure at the problem position of tighthead.
It is those sort of positives that Borthwick will cling to after a year that has brought just five wins from 12 games, including two against Japan and his old chum Eddie Jones. Ireland away, France at home is a hellish start to the Six Nations – perhaps any degree of confidence restored here will end up being key.
It was a bright enough start from the visitors, who caused England early problems with some intricate, zippy phase play. But it wasn’t long before any jangling nerves in the crowd and the England squad were settled. Virtually their first attacking opportunity resulted in a try, Smith’s piercing pass sending Ollie Lawrence through a gap and a free-running Ben Earl applying the finishing touches.
England were into their work, confidence swelling. Five minutes later, a second try arrived through Sam Underhill, who burst away from the back of a maul and grounded with authority. At their next opportunity, the ball did not even require extracting from the rumbling mass – George had England’s third and a heavy scoreline was beginning to beckon.
The latest injury to Underhill – a flanker with wretched luck in fitness matters – was the only fly in the much-needed ointment to soothe recent scars. When George was a buried beneficiary for a second time as England’s forwards flexed their muscles again, 28 points had arrived in little more than half an hour and England were beginning to strut their stuff.
A delightful Naoto Saito try got the visitors on the board, with scorching centre Dylan Riley continuing an outstanding individual year with a dynamite break to set his scrum half up. Yet another England try arrived before half time. Borthwick had challenged his side to be braver in their offloading and several individuals heeded his call. Enjoying the freedom afforded to him, Lawrence bumped and bustled brilliantly, but it was his Bath teammate Stuart who was an unlikely architect of Ollie Sleightolme’s try. Stuart’s arcing 15-metre pass put the wing into space, and a neat dab and dive defeated the last defender.
Already England had matched the tally they managed to muster in the so-called “black hole” game against Japan in 2018 that put several international careers on indefinite hiatus. On that November day, Jones was forced to throw on Owen Farrell to fix affairs at the interval; Borthwick would have been rather more content with the efforts of his England side.
Indeed, it was Jones and Japan making half-time alterations, swapping in a couple of new front-rowers in search of some semblance of salvation. Thirteen minutes of Japanese toil ended without addition to Saito’s score, though, and England struck almost instantly on making it out of their own half. Having latched on to a through kick, an obscene offload from Freeman to free George Furbank should probably not have been shown pre-watershed. Luke Cowan-Dickie subsequently struck twice either side of a Kazuki Himeno consolation, before the replacement wing Tom Roebuck showed off his finishing prowess.
And so ended an autumn and annum of missed opportunities. England will agonise over the moments in which they went missing: George Ford’s drop goal against the All Blacks; Itoje’s spilled restart against Australia; the final-quarter collapses in New Zealand; Earl’s no-arms tackle in Lyon. They are significant pockmarks on the face of a side coming out of its adolescence – Borthwick has often pointed to his side’s inexperience during the tough moments after recent defeats, but that is an excuse that is unlikely to wash next year.
The return of Ollie Chessum should better balance a pack that has lacked a grafter and third lineout leaper at times, while a role may need to be found for Saracens No 8 Tom Willis to add close-in carrying thrust. But Borthwick believes the pieces are largely in place for this England side to grow together. A Twickenham faithful that have shown great patience at last have a victory to cheer.
