Jeremy Guscott’s verdict: Even Manu Tuilagi can’t step straight into this ace side

The final weekend may not have gone entirely to script for Stuart Lancaster‘s side but the England head coach should be in extremely positive mood seeing the strides his team have made in the past 12 months since their Millennium Stadium stuffing last March.
So much so that Manu Tuilagi, England’s stand-out player for the past three years is no longer assured of his place in the starting XV. And, rightly so, I believe, after witnessing the performances of his midfield rivals.
Against Italy yesterday, Billy Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell again demonstrated how their partnership is burgeoning. A lot of credit must go to Lancaster and his coaches for picking in-form players – and sticking by them.
Burrell has been the best centre in the Premiership this season for Northampton – albeit wearing the No.12 shirt – and he has taken the step up with minimal fuss, especially as he has been asked to do a different job in the outside centre role.
Scoring tries always boosts your confidence and Burrell’s blockbusting start against the French set the tone for his tournament.
His three tries have all been of high class and his ability to assist and offload has come to the fore more every game. He has thoroughly impressed me and looks to have got better each game and can count himself unlucky at being replaced by Tuilagi with half an hour on the clock. And he would count himself extremely unlucky if the Leicester wrecking-ball were to be promoted ahead of him back into the starting XV. For me he has done enough to keep possession of the shirt – in fact it would be harsh for Lancaster to drop any of his 23.
The centre pairing, like the rest of the team, have gone up another level over the past six weeks and prior to Championship kick-off not many would have thought England had the strength in depth to keep Tuilagi on the sidelines. In fact there was early talk of him possibly being parachuted in for the Wales game.
It’s a similar situation with the wide men. Before the tournament Marland Yarde and Christian Wade were being talked about as England wings in waiting but it will be hard for either of them to get in now ahead of Jack Nowell or Jonny May.
For such a young team, England have shown vast maturity in their performances this tournament; from the agonising defeat to France at the start, when Chris Robshaw couldn’t quite get his team over the line for the win, to yesterday’s destruction of what wasn’t a bad Italian outfit.
It shows how far this team has come over the past six weeks, let alone 12 months. They went out looking to score a lot of tries and heap as much pressure on Ireland as possible before their late kick-off. And if it hadn’t been for the late interception try, they might have put enough points on the board and huge credit for that.
The main plus for me is their new-found ability to mix up their attack. Set-piece solidity should be a given for an international team, so should defence in my book. These are things you are taught at school and practise hundreds of times a week in training.
However, the offensive dynamics in a team are a lot harder to finesse and I have been thoroughly impressed with how England have developed this side to their game. They now have a very definite shape whereby they have two lines of attack and can go down either side of the breakdown. Twelvetrees has really stepped up into that second playmaker role and Owen Farrell‘s game-management seems to have gone up a few levels to last season.
In fact, to a man, everyone of the squad has had a fine tournament and rewarded the faith of the coaches.
Danny Care, out in the cold for so long, has really made the No.9 shirt his own and taken the opportunity Lancaster afforded him. Similarly, Dylan Hartley. He has been talked about in leadership terms for some time and I must admit I have had my doubts over the years about his temperament. But in this Championship he has been exemplary in the set-piece and has really put his hand up as part of the senior group of players.
He has been a member of the set-up for a number of years and it’s crucial he is one for the youngsters to look up to. The way he has put last season’s disappointment behind him to reclaim the hooker’s jersey is testament to his new maturity.
His clubmate Courtney Lawes is another who looks to have stepped up and cut out the ill-discipline which has sometimes marred his performances; and with Joe Launchbury alongside him, England have a formidable partnership that should be around for at least two World Cups providing they maintain their form and consistency. They were the standout locks of the tournament.
These two also aid the gameplan Lancaster has incorporated. Both Lawes and Launchbury are locks-cum-blindsides so they have the extra dimension to their game that out-and-out second rowers do not have. They are both fine athletes, have great handling skills and love to make big hits.
Throughout the team England have ball-players – with tyro props Mako Vunipola and Henry Thomas up there with the best of them. It allows England to play the fast-paced, offloading game which can be so devastating when executed with precision and it will be key to them taking the next step up as a unit to the standard of New Zealand and South Africa.
This will be the acid test in June when a weakened team face the All Blacks in the first Test.
Lancaster will have found out a lot about his squad over the last six weeks and will know which areas need strengthening. But he has a nice balance in most areas; with Wade and Yarde as wide options,  and bench men like Dave Attwood, Ben Morgan and Tuilagi keeping the heat on those in front, this squad should be highly competitive come RWC 2015.
Mike Brown heads the plaudits and should be named man of the tournament. But he is just one of many who have been consistent throughout and Lancaster changing personnel only due to injury emphasises the high levels of consistency throughout the team.
England are definitely on the rise but I think Ireland deserved to win the Championship due to their consistency – and it was a fitting end to what has been an outstanding career for Brian O’Driscoll.