1. Fin Smith needs more game time
Fin Smith has long been one of the premier fly-halves in the league. However, his opportunities at the international level have been limited due to strong competition at his position. George Ford is an excellent fly-half but put in some disappointing performances which massively contributed to England's three losses this autumn. Fin Smith made his first England appearance of the autumn and made it count against Japan. When he came on England went up a gear and flowed more in attack. His style of play might actually fit Borthwick's system more than Marcus Smith but Marcus has performed well enough to keep the #10 shirt. Smith should be on the bench for the six nations as England look to build for the future whilst still accruing much-needed wins
2. Will Stuart is still England's best tight-head prop
There has been a lot of criticism of England's front row options this year with the likes of Cole and Marler slowly moving away from the team. Will Stuart has nearly 50 caps for his country but hadn't really cemented his place until now. England do have the likes of Afolabi Fasogbon and Asher Opoku-Fudjour, who made his debut against Japan from the bench, but Stuart is now the undisputed starter at his position for England. He is not a world class tight-head but is more than serviceable at test level. He is an adequate scrummager who can also be effective in open play as he showcased with a 20 metre pass to assist a Sleightholme try.
3. Finally a win!
That took far too long. England's 5 game losing streak is over. This was a game that England needed to win by a large margin and they did that so Sunday can be deemed a success. Whilst this result is not particularly significant, it will ease the pressure on Steve Borthwick somewhat and create a refreshed narrative around the squad. It took far too long but England can go back to the club game with some renewed vigour but there will surely be revisions for the six nations.
4. Defensive vulnerabilities still remain
One thing that remained the same across all four games was a flimsy defence. New defence coach, Joe El-Abd, is returning to be head coach of his ProD2 team and perhaps that should remain his position given the evidence of this autumn. The new blitz defence is not his creation and it was obvious for all to see that there were clear tactical errors. Perhaps it is time for England to recruit a different coach and look to move forward separately.
5.Has Eddie Jones lost it?
Japan have lost again. As I detailed in the preview, none of their games against top teams have been remotely close. This is coupled with losses to Japan and Georgia. Eddie Jones wants to make Japan the fastest team in the world but maybe they need to focus more on physicality. Pressure will surely be mounting in Japan and Jones does not have the best recent track record given the debacles at both England and Australia. His silly "caring about Care" comment in his post-match press conference highlights one of the reasons why people quickly grow tired of his antics. These antics will be ignored as long as he brings results but he has not been able to coach a side to consistent success for 3 years at this point. Is this just a rough start or has Eddie Jones proved to be unfit to coach at the top level in 2024?
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