1. Threatening

For the first time this autumn, the English backs attacked the gainline. George Ford, despite standing just as deep as Farrell on several occasions, always took the ball right to the line and his extra pace and agility meant the Samoan defenders always had to keep an eye on him until the very last moment. He usually took a typically robust hit for his troubles, too. What did this do? It meant the men outside him had more space to work with as the inside defenders weren’t able to drift out until it was too late. It allowed the likes of Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Mike Brown, all of whom had had subdued series thus far (May’s one moment against NZ aside), to finally enjoy some time and space on the ball, and it certainly paid dividends.

2. Centres still an issue

The second centre partnership of the autumn – Owen Farrell and Brad Barritt – hasn’t got us or Lancaster any closer to knowing what the right one is for the World Cup. They did ok – Farrell’s no look pass behind Barritt in the build-up to the first try was a lovely moment – but for the most part there wasn’t any great spark or fluidity there. Indeed, there were occasions on which both men crabbed across the pitch to eat up space when an overlap was on, instead of simply straightening and allowing the outside man the space to run into. It should be a centre’s bread and butter. Kyle Eastmond has been released back to Bath already, which means the options for this weekend are the above two, Billy Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell. Do not be surprised to see one, or both, of the latter two in action.

3. Why is nobody carrying the ball?

James Haskell, we thought, was brought in to add an abrasiveness to England’s ball-carrying. In the first two games England’s forwards were largely static when receiving the ball and failed, more often than not, to break their way over the gainline. Haskell certainly makes a more bulky ball-carrier than Tom Wood, whom he replaced, so it was not unreasonable to assume that he might be used as a carrier, to give England a bit more front foot ball. So how many times did he carry the ball in 67 minutes of being on the pitch? A big, fat zero. He did plenty good, of course – 15 tackles made and none missed is a fine achievement – but you had to wonder what exactly he was brought in for, because Tom Wood is just as hard a worker and just as good a tackler. The lack of effectiveness of England’s ball carriers has been a serious malaise this autumn and while the example of Haskell is used here, he is far from the only one who has been ineffective in this area.

4. Cameo

Kieron Brookes has been mightily impressive every time he has come off the bench this season, and has certainly leapfrogged Henry Thomas in the England tighthead pecking order. He is raw, as the couple of penalties he conceded against Samoa prove, but he is also immensely powerful, and given that props don’t generally reach the peak of their powers until their late 20s/early 30s, you could argue that there is even more to come from him yet. Against Samoa he made a powerful burst with ball in hand, making 10 metres – and as boring as it is to keep rolling out these kinds of stats, that one carry saw him make more metres than any other forward bar Ben Morgan made all game. His scrummaging, already mostly solid, will continue to improve, and England can be confident that the long term future of their tighthead berth is in safe hands.

5. Territorial battle

It has been one of the most disappointing aspects of England’s autumn thus far that they have not been able to play the game in the areas that they want to. Of course another disappointment has been their play with ball in hand, so it is understandable that at times against Samoa they forced matters to try and string something together in that regard. Really, though, first and foremost they must look to dominate the territorial battle because, as Marland Yarde proved when butchering another two on one late on, they do not have the players capable of consistently playing their way out of trouble. It has been a particular issue in two of the four games so far, and you can bet that it won’t have escaped Australia’s attention.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images