Fish and chips? At times this England performance was a banquet of brilliance

Eddie Jones called for fish and chips rugby to beat Fiji – by which I take it he meant basic wholesome no nonsense fare – and his hungry team certainly tucked in during this nine try feast.
The glass half-full brigade will point to a sloppy period either side of half time when they conceded three tries and yes that will undoubtedly be addressed during tomorrow’s debrief but elsewhere there was some tasty rugby to get your teeth into.
The variety of passing that George Ford and Owen Farrell now employ is wondrous to behold and the key to England now possessing an X factor that has been missing since the old glory days of the World Cup winning team.
All known species of passes are to be seen. The short well-timed feed, the pop pass, the 30 degree drag back, the radical 60 degree drag back, the single pump, double pump , the long floated pass, the quick-fired long pass.
Both Ford and Farrell possess the full repertoire which they smoothly ran through yesterday as they taunted an understandably anxious Fiji defence which was prone to fly-up out of line.
England under Stuart Lancaster never embraced the idea of twin playmakers, preferring the big ball carrier at 12 and it was to prove their undoing because it stifled and limited what was still a dangerous back division. What could have been!
Eddie Jones has done many things to galvanise England in the past 12 months but the single most important was to do away with the endless debate and nonsense at 12 and just pick Owen Farrell in the position he was born to play.
And this comfort on the ball is clearly infectious. Mako Vunipola, below, now fixes his man like an international centre when delivering final try-scoring passes and brother Billy has also expanded his range massively in the last 18 months.
When Billy gets the ball the opposition and the crowd expect one thing – a thunderous charge and the splintering of bones as contact is made.
More often these days, however, he uses the anticipation of that collision to call the defences bluff to run and pass. Which make him even more dangerous.
Joe Launchbury is another big man with soft hands and look out for Kyle Sinckler as he begins to get more game time. Not only can he run but there was one little pivot pass yesterday which demonstrated the footballer within.
All this – and abundant pace out wide – makes England a very watchable team and it will be interesting to see if this continues against the Pumas this week.
Traditionally England games against Argentina are always boring, limited affairs. It’s difficult to recall a spectacle worthy of the word, but with the Pumas these days very attack-minded it could be very different at Twickenham on Saturday. The main negative from yesterday centre on that period when they went AWOL mentally and coughed up three tries on the bounce.
That shouldn’t happen at this level but it does frequently when a team are in total command and have the winning of the game before half-time. At 31-0 up after 26 minutes England were home and hosed before Fiji mounted their first serous attack and you have to give them and Nemani Nadolo credit for that first score.
Then came England’s bizarre call – at 31-5 up – to go for goal with a penalty in front of the posts rather than to opt for a scrum or a line-out in the corner. Three points rather than seven, what was all that about?  Why would you let opponent off the hook like that?
England slotted the three but it was Fiji who took encouragement and went straight upfield after the restart to score a second try.
They carried that momentum into the second half and added a third try  before England finally regathered themselves and normal services was restored.
You could argue that such a lapse didn’t matter against Fiji and possibly wouldn’t happen against another bigger team.
It’s not a good habit to get into though and words will be spoken. England do seem to go for the soft option sometimes.
At the end of the South Africa game, when awarded a penalty with time up, they just poked the ball into touch with a bench load of fresh replacements on the pitch desperate to try and make an impression and sign off with a late score.
Again, it hints at just a little chink in their armour. Why not go for the jugular and finish in style?
And now to sign off the autumn with back to back Tests against Argentina and Australia.
The only selection issue I can see, barring injuries, is at 13 where Jonathan Joseph and Elliot Daly go head to head.
It’s almost the toss of the coin but my vote goes to Daly who is on fire and had the ability to damage even the best organised defences.
Versatile man that he is, Daly actually made a strong case for selection on the wing with his display yesterday but I wouldn’t compromise. England have got Test quality wings in Samesa Rokoduguni and Jonny May.
Eddie Jones should either pick – or not pick – Daly in his best position at outside centre. English rugby is littered with great talents who were compromised by being deemed utility players. Daly has earned a run at 13.