Jeremy Guscott’s verdict on England: Chris Robshaw has come of age as openside

Chris Robshaw has led England from the front with bravery and tenacity since his tenure as skipper began two years ago. But after his summer of rest, the England captain now looks the real deal as an international openside of some repute.
If you watch him closely you can tell he has really studied the position and done his homework thoroughly since the heartbreak of missing out on Lions selection. He looks to have lost some weight, is quicker over the ground, stronger in the tackle area and is more effective getting over and jackalling some ball.
Scotland coach Scott Johnson dropped his back row jack-of-all- trades skipper Kelly Brown for the specialist breakdown skills of Chris Fusaro – a smaller man more adept at spoiling quick ball – as it was always going to be a key battle in the Murrayfield mud. But from the off Robshaw showed which No.7 was going to have the bigger say on the outcome.
Robshaw’s progression from an honest, hard-working club man to England’s talisman epitomises the the culture that Stuart Lancaster is trying to implement. Each player knows there is at least one, maybe two, players waiting for any sniff of a chance and so they cannot afford to rest on their laurels.
Robshaw had Matt Kvesic breathing down his neck during the autumn but now there really is no debate who should wear seven and captain England.
That’s one of the things I love about this England side –any drop- off in performance and Lancaster has made it clear your place will be assured no longer – just ask Chris Ashton.
Robshaw’s back row pals, Tom Wood and Billy Vunipola, seemed to carry on where they left off last week. Wood always works tirelessly and his lineout work was exceptional. But it is Vunipola who really excites me and looks to be the find of the season.
For some reason the Scots kept kicking the ball down his throat, and the big Saracens No.8 kept running it back harder every time. It was one of these barnstorming breaks which led to Mike Brown‘s try.
Vunipola gets over the gain line every time and his offloading skills are improving every game. He bossed his battle with David Denton and I thought the pack in general made it look pretty comfortable throughout and had Luther Burrell been able to grab a second try before half time England would have had it sown up because Scotland looked second best and I couldn’t see them coming back.
England’s gameplan had to be ‘keep it simple’ looking to build on the solid forward performance from last week, with fewer errors at key times. And on the whole that’s what they delivered. The only difference to last week was that Scotland weren’t as good as France and so couldn’t punish the England mistakes.
England’s pack were competent, and strong throughout and did what was necessary by setting  a solid platform. The scrum looked more secure and Dylan Hartley’s throwing was faultless – 20 out of 20 is some achievement – although Tom Youngs struggled again when he came on which must be some concern for Graham Rowntree.
Owen Farrell had another very good game and didn’t get involved with so much petulant stuff apart from his shove on Chris Cusiter.
Farrell’s so much better when he’s concentrating purely on what is in front of him. I don’t want to see him pushing players off the ball or trying to trip them up. There’s no place for that stuff in the international game – especially not from a fly-half.
I like to see the No.10 making the right decisions, being accurate with his kicking and offering a running threat. Farrell did all of that yesterday and again his half-breaks got behind the Scots and kept them guessing.
With Farrell to the fore, England tried to play some decent rugby in poor condiditons. Maybe they could have won in a simpler fashion, but it showed how confident they are in keeping their new attacking shape and that they wanted to play.
Having two lines of attack gives them options; a front line of two or three so the ball can go hard and flat, like we saw for the Burrell try; or it can go behind and attack in a second wave taking the team wide. It sounds simple but it can only work if the forwards are doing well and if the lock pairing of Courtney Lawes and Joe Launchbury is really coming together.
They work hard, carry well and put in huge hits, plus they trust each other. Similar to the back row, these guys know they must work hard every second due to the competition waiting in the wings.
In fact there’s competiton for places in each line of the scrum and I was pleased to see Henry Thomas get a short run off the bench.
Some of these starters are making it very difficult for Lancaster not to select them and it begs the question of what happens when Lancaster has a fully fit squad; is there room for Tom Croft or Geoff Parling in the pack? And what of Manu Tuilagi when he returns – is there a place for him straight away? It would be tough to drop Burrell after his two tries in two outings. I think it will be a very interesting situation come the Wales game if Tuilagi is available. My hunch is that Tuilagi will replace Brad Barritt on the bench.
Looking ahead to the Ireland game, it will be a huge battle up front and I think Lancaster must look at his options from the bench. Paul O’Connell’s boys gave Wales very little breathing space and it will be a battle royal at Twickenham. If it is tight towards the end of the game England will need to have more attacking options available and  I don’t believe the current bench options allow England to go and chase a game.
It will be a big statement of intent if Lancaster opts for George Ford or Kyle Eastmond alongside Anthony Watson instead of Barritt and Alex Goode. I’d go for Ben Youngs ahead of Lee Dickson.
Little errors and wasted opportunities will not go unpunished against the Irish. France made England pay last week and Ireland have the means to do likewise.