Jeremy Guscott verdict: Ford-Farrell axis is key to an historic Series win

People should not underestimate the magnitude of this first ever Test victory by an England side in Brisbane and it proves the Eddie Jones transformation is gaining pace.
England look a different animal now, both physically and mentally to 12 months ago. Last year they might not have had the same guts and determination to fight-back from 10-0 down against the second-best team in the world in their own back yard.
But they reacted from the opening  blitz in magnificent style with James Haskell leading a ferocious defensive effort. It was Haskell’s best game in an England jersey which is saying something given his age and number of Test caps.
Picking Luther Burrell at 12 didn’t work for England and Jones made the right call by bringing on George Ford below after only 29 minutes. Burrell has been in good form and had a huge game silencing Jamie Roberts a fortnight ago, but this week he didn’t seem totally to understand the defensive system that has been implemented.
While Australia attacked from side to side with real pace through Bernard Foley and Israel Folau, Burrell’s blitz wasn’t quite there which allowed Folau time and space on the ball.
When the Wallabies come at you like that in relentless wave after wave of ferocious attack they invariably score, and they took their two tries well. But the game changed considerably when Ford came on and England managed to exert some authority.
They didn’t allow the Wallabies so much possession, and came flying up like a blanket to close the space. Ford’s presence seemed to help Owen Farrell relax and the pair orchestrated England’s attack and got them playing in the right areas.
Ford bounced back from the disappointment of dropping to the bench with a composed display and showed again his full range of skills, whether it’s keeping the defence honest with a little snipe, or passing and kicking brilliantly. His vision for Marland Yarde’s try was exceptional, as was the execution, and he backed it up with the final play to put Jack Nowell in with the little chip through. The combination with Farrell still needs to be fine-tuned, but they both look to be more comfortable on the field alongside one another and it  brings the best out of them, as it has done all through the England age-groups.
Whether it’s the long-term answer for the 10-12 partnership remains to be seen, but Farrell provides an extra pair of eyes for Ford and the partnership is working right now and will only get better.
The performance was by no means faultless and there are areas to improve – but that is one of the exciting things about this young team. Maro Itoje, left, had another outstanding game. He looks like a player with many more years’ experience than he has and I like the way he is not afraid to taking a leading role despite his age.
Australia will be hurting after this. A first defeat at Suncorp Stadium will be hard to digest but they will have to, and fast, before heading to Sydney – a place not renowned for its Rugby Union support. They’ll need a crowd of gold and green to help sway momentum and stop Eddie Jones’ side from clinching the series.
This was another emphatic statement by this new-look side under Jones and Dylan Hartley.  They reacted from the two-try blitz by sticking to their gameplan and trusting their set-piece.  They soaked up the pressure of the first 20 minutes and didn’t panic; the same in the second half once the Wallbies launched their comeback. I especially liked the winning mentality to go for the jugular at the death with Danny Care‘s counter-attack setting up the Ford chip for Nowell.
Against Wales Care kicked the ball out under similar circumstances but yesterday they wanted to fire a final message to Australia.
England will be confident of getting the job done again next week to clinch the series. Winning breeds winning and it is seven from seven now under the Australian head coach.
After seeing the transformation after Ford’s arrival, Jones could stick with that formation from the off or go back to his original plan of giving Ben Te’o his debut. The problem yesterday was Burrell’s slow line speed when implementing Paul Gustard’s blitz defence, so the coaches will need to be 100 per cent certain Te’o understands it.
If not, I can see Jones sticking with the Ford-Farrell axis to secure the historic series win.