Thirteen days now till the party starts. Twickenham felt ready. The roads around are shut and the signs and barriers are up. Vast new hospitality stands and media centres have sprouted around the ground and every corner is bedecked with branded flags and banners. They’ll be advertising different sponsors by the time the World Cup starts. But, still, it felt like everything was in place, that every last detail has been attended to, each according to a plan concocted many months back. The ground looked as good as it ever has done – all set, ahead of what promises to be one of the great sports tournaments. Except, that is, for the team. England had contrived to arrive at this, their final dress rehearsal, in a state of some unreadiness.
The World Cup is a long tournament, and as anyone who remembers England’s scramble through to the final in 2007 will know, there is time enough for a team to come together, even after the competition is under way. This time around, however, England’s first three fixtures are against Fiji, Wales, and Australia, two sides ranked above them and the other only three places below. They won’t have the luxury of leaving it late. Make too many mistakes and they’ll be out before the quarter-finals. Given that, you’d hope they’d be sure by now of their best XV. But ask around and you’ll find a lot of different answers to that particular question among their fans. Perhaps among their coaching staff, too. The bookmakers have even started publicising odds on whether this team will be the same one that plays against Fiji on Friday week.
England were using this match to bed in a new centre partnership, the 13th Stuart Lancaster has used since he took over. This time, it was the tortoise-and-hair pair of Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph, who had previously played 14 minutes of Test rugby together, against New Zealand three years ago. There was a new pair in the second row, too, of Geoff Parling and Courtney Lawes, with Joe Launchbury dropping back to the bench.
In the back row, Tom Wood was in, ahead of James Haskell, and Ben Morgan had replaced Billy Vunipola. On the wings, Anthony Watson and Jonny May, with Jack Nowell making way. Add to that the facts that two of the replacements who came on with 20 minutes to go, Jamie George and Sam Burgess, had two caps between them, and that – as Lancaster has suggested – George Ford was coming under serious pressure from Owen Farrell at fly-half.
Add it all up and it amounted to a few too many questions, a touch too much uncertainty. Well, 80 minutes later, after a 21-13 win, things looked a little clearer and a little better. Wood, for one, was excellent, and won man of the match. Spurred on by instructions from his coaches, he was much more of a presence in the loose than he often is and made more metres than any other forward. Lancaster also picked out Morgan, still making his way back to full fitness after his injury. Ink them in.
In front, Parling, Launchbury and Lawes may find themselves in rotation for the two starting slots at lock, depending on the opposition. There were a couple of shaky moments in the lineout, messy possession from the first and a poorly worked short routine at the second, which cost England many metres of territory. But, after that, it functioned better than it had done during the defeat by France.
In the backs, May still plays like a cat running across broken glass, but at least now he always seems to be moving in the right direction. Last autumn, before Lancaster dropped him, he seemed to skitter every which way. His speed and agility make him a serious threat, far more so than the steady Nowell. May scored one superb try, catching a cute little loopy pass by Ben Youngs, then bursting straight through Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo. He almost had another, even better, when he pushed away from the touchline off his left foot to launch himself, leaping around Eoin Reddan and over the try line. Breathtaking stuff – only the pass that put him away, from Tom Youngs this time, had flown forward.
On the far side of the field, Watson scored a fine try of his own. Ford sent over a crossfield kick, Watson jumped up, together with Zebo, who tumbled back down to the ground, clutching armfuls of nothing. He watched Watson spin and dive over the line. Later in the half, Watson beat Zebo and Jamie Heaslip with a sly sidestep. He and May make a seriously potent pair, fast and full of running. Lancaster, always pragmatic, preferred to talk about the way they “dealt with Ireland’s aerial threat” rather than their finishing. He was right that, between them, Watson, May, and Mike Brown covered the grass so well that few of Jonny Sexton’s kicks landed in empty spaces.
Finally, a word for Ford, who did a good job of playing puppet-master, pulling all the strings. He also made all but one of his tackles as Ireland often sent their runners hurtling down his channel. A sense, then, that England are coming together again after that setback against France in Paris. About time too. This is no time to be learning lines.
