1. Defensive frailty
England conceded 42 points in a home game - that is not good enough. Particularly when the opponent was a rebuilding Australian team coming off of a disappointing Rugby Championship. It appears that England are still reeling from the surprise departure of Felix Jones who brought in the blitz system from the Springboks who had so much success with it. His replacement, Joe El-Abd, will have a tough task ahead of him if he is going to prevent a similar outcome next weekend against South Africa. There seemed to be a lot of confusion over when players were supposed to blitz which cost multiple tries. Henry Slade copped most of the flack as, due to his position, he was caught out most. But the most important try was the final one in which Marcus Smith made the wrong blitzing read, allowing Australia to score a late try when all they really needed was a drop goal. However, you could argue that Marcus Smith would not have been out of his depth in that scenario if he had not been moved from fly-half to fullback in order to accommodate George Ford which brings me neatly onto my next takeaway.
2. Marcus Smith must play 80 minutes at fly-half
Marcus Smith has consistently been the centre of England's attack which you would expect from a player of his quality at his position but the reliance on him has become an issue. Even when he was moved to fullback he was able to impact the game but not to the same degree and he was unable to dictate tempo as much as when he plays in his natural position. He has shown that he is capable of leading his team to late victories with moments like his game-ending drop goal to beat Ireland in the Six Nations earlier this year. Some people are saying that this should be the end of George Ford's England career. I think that is premature, he is experienced and still plays at a high level when he has games under his belt which is not the case right now. It is also indisputable that he is one of England's best 3 eligible fly-half options. Having said that, his partnership with Harry Randall doesn't make much sense. Ford is a player who looks to control the game, slowing the tempo and gaining territory to close games out whereas Randall is more in the mould of a Danny Care who likes to play an aggressive, high-possession game. If Randall were to enter the game after an hour to play with Marcus Smith, England would have an electric half-back pairing to end a game.
3.England still can't win close games
As I mentioned in the point above, England are not getting the requisite impact from their bench to win games. Given, the depth of talent at the disposal of Steve Borthwick, this should not be happening. I have already covered some of the problems specifically pertaining to the backs on the bench but the problems don't stop there. In my review of the New Zealand defeat, I bemoaned England's inability to finish games and lack of point scoring in the final stages. That trend has continued. Is it time for Dombrandt to be put under pressure by the likes of Underhill and Ben Curry. It is also worth questioning if Cunningham-South would be best used from the bench. It is interesting that Harlequins, his club side, seem to view him this way and start Kenningham ahead of him. CCS is clearly a great player and what Eddie Jones would refer to as a "test match animal" but how much more impact could he have when other players are tired and the game is more open? Perhaps England's late problems are partially down to a lack of energy due to constant blitzing. Whatever the cause of the issues, they must be resolved as soon as possible.
4. The Suallii hype is justified
So, the new Israel Folau just dropped. Like Folau, Suallii stands at 6 feet and 5 inches whilst being an exceptional athlete. This speed was shown when he ran around the rapid Ollie Sleightolme in order to set up one of Australia's many tries. He also used his height to his advantage, including one NBA-style mid-air offload. He was also a weapon on kickoffs, causing chaos despite going up against Maro Itoje. He looked right at home, so much so that you would never have guessed that this was his first proffesional game of rughy union. Huge credit should also go to his midfield partner, Ikitau, who was probably my man of the match. He allowed Suallii the space and time to implement his skills without being iscolated by an England team who would doubtless have wanted to expose his lack of union experience. Instead it was his opposite number, Henry Slade, who had a rough day at the office.
5. Write off Australia at your peril
If this game has taught us anything, it's that writing off Australia is foolhardy. This team was bruised after a testing Rugby Championship with only July wins over Wales and Georgia to celebrate. However, Joe Schmidt is the perfect coach for Australia and it was only a matter of time before they pulled off an upset. This Australia team perhaps lacks the physicality to compete with the top sides in the world but the return of Will Skelton should help with that. They must now back up this performance by beating Wales again, this time at the Principality Stadium.
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