England win ugly again - and that should scare everyone

While some Super Rugby players were recovering from the Tens and continuing pre-season preparations, the Six Nations rolled through its second round of games this past weekend, with one game in particular catching my attention.

Early on Sunday morning, when many of us would have been stumbling home/enjoying a lie in/dealing with toddlers who don’t sleep (delete as appropriate) England beat Wales at the latter’s home ground.

The Welsh are a passionate and knowledgeable lot, who live and die by how their team perform. And against the English the crowd and team raise their game, making Cardiff a cauldron that has seen many teams drown among the intensity and return to London with their tail between their legs.

When it came to intensity, this game didn’t disappoint. From the kick off until the final whistle, passion was on display from both sides and every player must have woken up incredibly sore the next day.

The game was exciting on the scoreboard too, despite being a low-scoring affair – no team could really pull away and create a demanding lead.

To be clear, there were plenty of errors from both sides and key opportunities missed, and here’s where we get to the point of this article – England did not play that well but they won.

For the second week in a row, England did not live up to their potential and for the second week in a row they were celebrating another victory. They are learning how to win ugly – and that should scare us all.

England should always be near the top of the world rankings. They have more players at all levels, an incredibly well-funded governing body that has done well at creating pathways from the school field to Twickenham, and they can afford pretty much whatever resources they want.

That doesn’t mean success is inevitable, but the foundations are certainly there, and put other rugby unions around the world to shame.

But since 2003 England have never really threatened the top levels of the international game. Several second places in the Six Nations left many frustrated, and then their destruction at the hands of Australia and embarrassing exit from the 2015 Rugby World Cup shone a revealing light on the fragile nature of English rugby at the highest levels. All the gear, but no idea.

Jump forward to February 2017 and England are undefeated in 16 games, including wins over Australia, South Africa and Argentina, and are learning to win week after week – even when they are not playing well or are at full strength.

This should scare the Rugby Championship teams.

While Australia have demonstrated far too many times in the past 12 months that they have an incredible ability to play well but lose, England have been learning how to stay in the game and take opportunities when they present themselves. The game against the Welsh demonstrated this perfectly.

With just five minutes to go, Wales had the chance to clear their lines, smash the ball into touch, and put themselves in a strong position to defend their slender, two-point lead. But the kick went down the middle of the field and stayed in play.

George Ford took the catch, set off at pace, spun a long pass out to Owen Farrell, who himself threw a pinpoint pass into the hands of Elliot Daly, who beat the Welsh winger on the outside and scored in the corner.

Farrell slotted the conversion from the sideline, meaning the Welsh had four minutes to score a try and draw the game. England closed out the game with relative ease, adding another win to their streak.

Aussie fans watching this 60 seconds of play wouldn’t be blamed for being impressed. It was simple enough in many ways – a couple of passes and a sprint for the line. But as ever, the devil is in the detail.

All three English players had been on the field for 75 minutes of a brutal game. England were only two points behind and with a kicker like Farrell in good form, it would seem sensible to take the ball back into contact and see if tired Welsh forwards would give away a penalty.

But with Eddie Jones’ voice maybe ringing in their ears, the three spotted an opportunity, had the courage and confidence to go for it, and the skills to execute perfectly.

In many ways it was very Australian – confident backs having the conviction to go for the try and then making it look simple, despite the pressures of the moment. But sadly, this type of play has been missing from the Wallabies in 2016.

Teams can’t continually play badly and hope to snatch victory, but if you want to threaten the All Blacks, it is essential be able to hang on and trust that you will grab that all-important chance when it presents itself.

Many have written that Michael Cheika’s Wallabies are unable to switch when Plan A isn’t delivering the results, and that far too often Plan B seems to be ‘Plan A but quicker’.

As Jones pointed out post-match, his team were without five first-choice players, including their entire back row. This second point is just as scary as the first – not only are the English players developing the confidence and skill to win tight games, but they are increasing the squad of players who can be relied upon to deliver the victory.

Jones has spoken of a clear strategy to use players off the bench to finish games and in the first two matches of this Six Nations, they’ve done just that. The blokes on the pine are not just providing fresh legs, they come on to win a game that is in the balance.

Confidence, skill and depth. A scary trio indeed.