One more rose-tinted victory against Australia on Saturday will make this, statistically, the most impressive calendar year in English rugby history. Not once in the professional era have the national side gone unbeaten from January to December and only one other England team, back in 1992, have done so since 1980. Given the class of 92 played a mere six games, Eddie Jones’s squad would have strong claims to be first among equals should it happen.
To continue to prosper with 13 men on the field for almost a quarter of the game on Saturday suggests Jones and his coaches have distilled a rare team spirit. Elliot Daly, the first England back to be sent off at Test level, will forever recall this game with a shudder but several of his team-mates will feel differently. In terms of revealing genuine character and uncovering answers to awkward defensive questions, this was as significant as any of England’s 13 consecutive wins so far.
Few teams would have absorbed the loss of Daly and the injured Billy Vunipola, key figures in terms of the way England are trying to play. With Plans A and B shredded, however, Jones’s on-field lieutenants reorganised shrewdly, slowed the game to a more calculated pace and, by the end, it was Argentina who were hanging on physically despite their previous numerical advantage. “We want to be the No1 team in the world and to achieve that we have to have the highest level of fitness,” Jones said, suggesting there may be another “5% or 6%” to come.
For George Kruis to last virtually the entire game on his return from ankle surgery was remarkable and Courtney Lawes, Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood put in a prodigious amount of work. Had Daly not been rightly banished for his mistimed aerial challenge on Leonardo Senatore – the French referee, Pascal Gaüzère, had a fine game – the probability is England would have won by a wider margin based on their superior conditioning and second-half bench impact alone.
It did no harm, either, that Argentina played straight into grateful English palms in the opening half-hour, when a little more tactical and territorial nous would have made life far harder for their hosts. Was the old maestro Juan Martín Hernández fully fit following an early knock? If so he did not look it, his erratic restarts making it harder for the Pumas – now outside the world’s top eight ranked sides and facing a tougher 2019 Rugby World Cup pool when the draw is made in May – to build momentum and pressure.
Only either side of half-time did England wobble, a prolonged scrum-athon eventually yielding a yellow card for Dan Cole and a try for Facundo Isa. When Santiago Cordero finished off a wonderful sweeping move within two minutes of the restart the Pumas were back within two points at 16-14 and the crowd’s now compulsory interval rendition of Sweet Caroline – there must be some other feel-good anthems lying in the RFU’s pile of old vinyl – had been replaced by nervous muttering.
As the 13 of England stood behind their posts there were echoes of the famous Wellington Test of 2003 when a six-man England pack led by Martin Johnson defied the All Blacks. Jones was coach of the Wallaby side who shipped 50 points at home to New Zealand shortly afterwards – “We got absolutely belted” – and understood from the moment Daly departed that he was about to learn more about his squad than in the previous two autumn Tests combined. “I was quite excited about it because it was an opportunity to do something we hadn’t done before. We adapted and were absolutely brilliant at executing the plan to win it from there. The credit has to go to the players. They worked it out.”
Paul Gustard, England’s defence coach, was similarly impressed: “It was incredible, a privilege to be part of.” Jones clearly hopes “this special piece of history” in adversity will now layer on even more confidence and deliver more lasting long-term value than simple statistics, even if England do ultimately overtake the national team’s all-time unbeaten run of 14 wins between 2002 and 2003. Once the outstanding Agustín Creevy had departed and Joe Marler and Jamie George joined forces, the set-piece pendulum swung encouragingly back towards England and the 68th-minute try scored by Jonny May, made simpler by the line straightening and deft passing of George Ford, Wood and Jonathan Joseph, put the outcome beyond doubt. The late sending-off of Enrique Pierreto for stamping after Marler had illegally held on to his ankle also ensured the number of cards – two reds and four yellows – broke the record for a Test match.
The most immediate concern for the England management will be how much it has drained the stamina reserves of some of their tight forwards. A lighter training load awaits this week but the physios look set to be busier. With Daly facing a ban, Semesa Rokoduguni or Marland Yarde will return on the right wing, with the state of Nathan Hughes’s injured foot also shaping the back-row permutations.
The enticing prospect of beating Australia for the fourth time inside six months, though, should ensure one concerted final push. The Wallabies have been more than competitive in every match on their European tour and, following their 3-0 series defeat in June, revenge against the record-chasing Poms would be particularly sweet. “The 3-0 outcome in the summer will be a big incentive for them, I’d imagine,” said Wood. “It’s something they’ll want to put right.”
Jones preferred to lob in another of his cricket analogies – “It’s like when you score 100 … the next week when you go into bat you don’t get a head start” – but Australia can expect to find Twickenham rather noisier than Lord’s on Saturday. Aside from the home crowd’s mid-game mobile phone torch-shining craze, it increasingly feels just like old times.
England Brown (Slade, 75); May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, B Youngs (Care, 70); M Vunipola (Marler 59), Hartley (capt; George 59), Cole (Sinckler 74), Lawes, Kruis (Ewels, 78), Robshaw, Wood (Sinckler, 40-48), B Vunipola (Harrison, 39).
Tries Penalty try, May Con Farrell Pens Farrell 5.
Red card Daly 5. Sin-bin Cole 40, Marler 76.
Argentina Cordero; Orlando, Moroni, González, Iglesias (De La Fuente, 4), Estelles (Ascarate, 76); Hernández, Cubelli (Landajo, 68); Noguera (García Botta, 64), Creevy (capt; Montoya, 62), Herrara (Pieretto, 62), Petti, Alemanno (Lezana, 64), Matera, Ortega Desio, Senatore (Isa, 5).
Tries Isa, Cordero Cons Hernández 2.
Red card Pieretto, 76. Sin-bin Orlando 18, Matera 66.
Referee P Gaüzère (Fr) Attendance 81,586.
