England seek balance between old and new

For all the talk ahead of England’s Autumn Nations Series opener against Tonga of this being the start of a new era for the national team, there were still plenty of signs in the 69-3 win that the old guard have a lot to offer.

It must not be overlooked how Freddie Steward was solid under the high ball and carried well at full-back; how Adam Radwan, bristling with pace and power, made it four tries in two appearances with the opening score; or how Marcus Smith lit up Twickenham with his 28-minute cameo off the bench.

But several of the stand-out performances came from established players. Centres Henry Slade – named as man of the match – and Manu Tuilagi, winning their 41st and 44th caps respectively, both offered plenty of challenges for the Tongans in attack, for example.

Captain-for-the-day Courtney Lawes, now on 88 caps, excelled too – highlighted by his try-saving tackle on Telusa Veainu – and for head coach Eddie Jones, the way the newcomers combined with some of his more established squad members augers well for the remaining November internationals and moving towards the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

“I really enjoyed the mix of our team,” Jones said. “I think we had an average age of about 25, which puts us in a good position to be around the peak, prime age for the World Cup.

“You add a couple of years to that, we’re in that 27-28 average, which is right for a World Cup side, so it’s a really nice mix of experience, basically.

“As I said, we want experienced players to show that they’re prepared to dig deep and then we want the young guys to show that they can step up. We saw a little bit of that against Tonga, but that’ll be tested more fully by Australia [on Saturday].”

Another of the previous mainstays of Jones’ England team to come to the fore against Tonga was one who was initially left out of the Autumn Nations Series squad and only recalled due to injuries in Jamie George.

Two tries from line-out drives for the hooker underlined his contribution to the victory, yet he has been impressed by what both the newcomers on the playing side, and to the backroom set-up in forwards coach Richard Cockerill, defence coach Anthony Seibold and attack coach Martin Gleeson have brought to help the team evolve.

“I’ve been so impressed by those guys,” George said. “It’s always great when you’ve got young talent coming into the squad and it brings a different energy into the team.

“We’ve also got clear direction from the new coaching staff in how we want to play the game, while at the same time having those staples around our defence and our set-piece.

“Everyone is going to talk about the 60 points we scored, but not conceding a try and Courtney doing that work in the corner – him and Freddie Steward – we’re going to take pride in our defence and try to put smiles on faces with the attacking style of rugby we play.”

At the other end of the scale are the likes of Smith, a player seemingly with the world at his feet and one already emerging as the golden boy of the next generation judging by the cheers he received at Twickenham every time he appeared on the big screen prior to making his second-half appearance.

Scoring a try, setting up another and kicking five conversions saw the 22-year-old make the desired impact after a leg injury sustained in the build-up ruled him out of starting and while Jones issued a stern caution for Smith not to get distracted by outside pressures, the fly-half recognised there is still work to do for both him and the team.

“As finishers, at half-time we were told to bring energy and an impact,” Smith said. “We tried to do that when we came on and the day being so special for all of us, to have our friends and family watching us, and to have a sell-out crowd supporting us on the start of this new journey, was amazing and I really enjoyed my run onto the field.

“This is only the start of the journey. It was nice to score 69 points at home against a very good Tonga team, but we’ve got lots to work on.

“It’s an exciting squad and all of us are desperate to improve this week and desperate to keep getting better individually, which ultimately will hopefully make us collectively better.”

The autumn challenges go up a level this weekend when England welcome Australia, previously on a run of five straight Test wins prior to Sunday’s 15-13 loss to Scotland, to Twickenham, followed by rounding off the autumn against reigning world champions South Africa.

Jones may finally get the opportunity to try out the combination of Owen Farrell at inside centre and Smith at fly-half with the return of the England captain, but whatever blend of old hands and newcomers he goes with against the Wallabies, he is pleased to have plenty of decisions to make.

“It just gives us more options,” Jones said. “As I said previously, it’s very rare that we get everyone available and fit, so if we’ve got options to select from then then that’s fantastic and we want to have those options.”