4 November 14, 2021The Sunday Times 2GSRugby Union
defence as well as attack. A score of
19-15 with a quarter of the game to go
was another test for England’s new-
look side. Compared to the manner in
which South Africa closed Scotland
out in Edinburgh in the afternoon, it
was far from impressive. A couple of
scrum penalties, which added points
and territory, will not be so easy to
come by against the might of Malcolm
Marx and company.
Farrell limped off with 12 minutes
left. The midfield axis was over for the
day as Smith stepped up to kick the
penalty to push England out to a ten-
point lead. In a lukewarm second half,
at least Smith kept his cool.sive line, as errors kept Australia in
the hunt with penalties.
These are the sort of silly mistakes
that can be eradicated. The potential
of the positives — when Farrell dum-
mies to pass to the Sale Sharks centre
and Smith glides into space behind
the pair of them — outweighs frustra-
tions. The 16-12 half-time scoreline
didn’t impress. The ambition, if not
always the execution of England — in
an understated way — did.
Australia could even have taken the
lead after 55 minutes had the Harle-
quin not been tracking back to mark a
chip heading into the dangers of the
dead-ball zone. The good ones readheading into town next week, it is as
much a case of learning from errors as
bringing down the house with those
magic moments. Anyway, Kid Smith
bounced back onto his feet, none the
worse for a good old-fashioned Cook
Cup clattering.
Smith was a threat with those soft
hands of his, Farrell a fine foil with the
percentage of his kicking game. If the
new man was passing late and into
space, the captain was consistently
catching the Wallabies out with kicks
drilled to the corner or delicately
placed behind the Australia midfield.
Maybe he became carried away as a
35th-minute kick wasted decent
attacking ball.
These are the earliest days of an
aspiring partnership, a passing and
running fly half in tandem with a kick-
ing No 12 who can pass and run. The
great 10s, the likes of Daniel Carter in
his 2005 British & Irish Lions pomp,
do it all themselves. Opposing
midfields did not have a clue whether
he was set to kick, run or pass.
England, for the past year, played
the dual playmaking partnership of
Farrell and George Ford and failed to
find the required variety to make a
defence think twice. The second time
they think is when the attack is in busi-
ness.
Yet in so many ways, a duopoly of
midfield playmakers can work just as
well, the one drawing the defence, the
other providing the killer kick or pass.
The concern is a lack of punch outside
them. That was addressed with Tui-
lagi being named on the wing but
doing most of his work in the middle
of the park. Not all of it was good. He
was on occasions too fast off his defen-N
othing too memorable to
take from England’s eighth
consecutive Cook Cup
victory but, as “nothing”
goes, it was fascinating.
Within the first few minutes
the evidence of Eddie
Jones’s innovations was
there for all to see. First the broad
details.
Freddie Steward wore the No 15
shirt but from narrow angles he
defended the blind-side box-kick.
Henry Slade slipped into full back,
with Manu Tuilagi defending the
midfield.
The England head coach had said
that he wanted to get his best backs
on the field — forget the numbers on
their backs.
Especially at 10/12, where the head-
line makers Marcus Smith and Owen
Farrell were at the very centre of
interest. Could they click? Would the
alpha male presence of the skipper,
playing outside the Harlequin at
inside centre, overwhelm him?
Good question, except the duo
were soon swapping positions with
the dart and dash of the Harlequin
feeding as a second wave runner.
Farrell stepped early into the first
receiver position and Smith danced
one way, then another, as he popped
Steward through a hole created by
Farrell’s straight line and the new fly
half ’s feints and delays.The try was worth more than every
turgid minute of England’s series win-
ning but sorrowfully unambitious atti-
tude a year ago. Jones — as head coach
— has rightly taken some heavy flak
from both the media and the general
public. So let us give some credit
where it is seems due.
From the first kick of the game
there was a stamp of sure-footedness
running through the side. Smith was
the man to start the game. It may not
seem much, but for the captain to
have taken on all the kicking duties
from the first whistle might just have
sent the wrong message: “I’m in
charge now, lad!” Farrell, quite
rightly, remained the frontline kicker.
It was not a great kick. It was not
until the fifth England restart that
Smith connected with his chasing
men and regained possession. But
that was not the initial point of the
youngster taking responsibility: a new
side, a new way of playing.
In the 26th minute of the match,
Hunter Paisami picked out Smith,
again sliding around the back of the
initial wave, and walloped him, man
and ball.
Paradoxically, that was what the
10/12 partnership needed — some
rough treatment. With the SpringboksSTUART
BARNESThese are the early
days of an aspiring
partnership, a
passing and running
fly half in tandem
with a kicking No 10
World’s most
powerful
team will be
truest test
of England’s
aspirations
STEPHEN
JONESRugby CorrespondentWill Eddie Jones go flat out for
victory, will he declare that is exactly
what he is doing and will he pick a
team to achieve that end against the
most powerful rugby team on earth
at the moment? If he does not follow
that path then his England team and
his progress is at risk.
And he could make a great start by
trying to imbue in his team some
means of re-establishing momentum.
So many England teams over the
years have begun well, encouraged
by the noise of the crowd and
tactically driven by the fact that their
coaches have just issued their final
orders.
But yesterday, as the match drifted
on to what appeared at one stage to
be a grisly conclusion, England
appeared to have no idea how to
regain momentum and devil and
pace.
To take on the Springboks is
impossible if you pretend that there
is another way of taking them on
which does not involve taking them
on.
Manu Tuilagi must play in theRight. Can anyone regard next week’s
match against South Africa at
Twickenham as only part of a big
picture, not an end in itself, an
afternoon where aspects of the
performance can be treasured even
in defeat?
Well, everyone is entitled to their
opinion, everyone is entitled to
forget that England still do not
achieve the victories that they
should, still cave in and dip
alarmingly during matches, and are
endlessly harping on about the
future.
The future will arrive, if only they
were honest enough to admit it, next
Saturday in the shape of Damian de
Allende and Lukhanyo Am, the
calling cards of the Springboks.
Unless one of them is injured, they
will line up yet again in the South
Africa midfield, glowering and
massive, desperate to take on the
world, in the cause of burnishing
once again their trophy for winning
the World Cup.
England may well continue their
policies from yesterday’s game —shoving key players out to the wing,
crowbarring old greats so that they
can still have a run; joyously
applauding the arrival on the field of
callow youngsters and in general,
changing their team by what seems to
the uninitiated, poor us, as random
selections.
South Africa must be beatable,
because any side who have lost to
Australia twice in recent history
cannot be that brilliant. Yet South
Africa have found a rhythm and a
style, and a jigsaw in which every
piece is interlocking.
To hell with the idea that they are
boring because I know many rugby
fans who would love to be bored
rigid by England if it meant that they
kept on winning the winnable
matches.I would rein
in those
attacking
instincts
which would
merely leave
England
prey to the
Springbok
jackallers
and jackals
ON TV
England v South
Africa
Saturday, Amazon(^5) Prime, ko 3.15pm
Tests in 2021
in which
South Africa
have trailed at
half-time but
gone on to win
ODD COUPLE CLICK
Master Farrell and his apprentice Smith show signs
that they can forge contrasting but lethal combination