Jeremy Guscott: Intensity is key to beating the Wallabies
Eddie Jones is trying to get to those levels, and it is a struggle. All you have to do is look around the field in an international to see just how many England players are operating at maximum intensity for the full match, and you realise it is not a quick fix.
England have played Argentina, Fiji and South Africa so far in this autumn series, and to date their intensity levels have not been pushed to the limit. Against South Africa they were sporadic with the level going up and down, and against Fiji either side of half-time they switched off.
You cannot do that against Australia, and expect to win – and that is what makes Saturday’s final Test of the autumn so intriguing. The summer tour was won by the intensity of England’s defence against the Wallabies, and by Owen Farrell‘s outstanding goal-kicking. When England had the ferocity of James Haskell, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and Billy Vunipola rising to the challenge for long periods it kept them ahead at crucial times, and dented Australian confidence.
However, despite England’s defence being very confrontational the team still conceded ten tries to Australia over the three Tests – and it is still leaking. The South Africans came back late in the game to score a couple of tries, and last weekend Fiji exploited England’s dip in concentration either side of half-time to score three more.
On that evidence Australia will fancy they have what it takes to break England’s defence, and it’s something defence coach Paul Gustard will have to fix, or the Wallabies will make them pay.
A lot of teams, including England, have their defensive line come up hard and fast on the blitz with the wide defenders slightly ahead of those in midfield. However, when an attack goes through the phases and the defensive line gets more ragged with, say, one or two defenders going up too far, and another lagging behind, it becomes vulnerable. And there are few teams more expert than Australia at exploiting it.
The Wallabies also have a couple of centres, one old one new, who are playing very well. Tevita Kuridrani was kept quiet in the summer series, but he’s been coming back into form this autumn, and his match-winning tries against France and Scotland have shown what a danger he can be.
The new addition at inside-centre is Reece Hodge, who is a very tasty player. He’s come into the Wallaby team on the back of a great try-scoring season for the Melbourne Rebels, and England haven’t got anyone like him. I rate him because he’s got height, at 6ft 3ins, and quick wheels, and having played full-back he also has great handling ability – and can kick too. Hodge has strength, power and pace, and he’s an incredibly dangerous threat when you put him alongside Kuridrani, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley and Dane Haylett-Petty.
Australia will fancy their chances, and because they mixed-and-matched the selection against France, they should be fresh for the Twickenham challenge. If the Wallaby forwards can get more good ball this time than they did in the summer, I don’t think they’ll have the same problems getting the ball over the line.
At the moment England are being kept on their toes by competition for places within the squad, with head coach Jones going game-by-game with his selection calls. The element of uncertainty hasn’t backfired yet, and the squad know one thing for sure – that the team that is selected to play against Australia is what he currently thinks is his strongest side.
Another certainty is that Jones will not want any energy sappers in his squad, because it is like a bacteria. The intensity needs to go up, not down, and to be successful against Australia it has to do so for much longer periods. This is true of the breakdown in particular. It is a ferocious battleground, and in Australia it was especially so, with England edging ahead.
We saw the same intensity in the recent Ireland games against New Zealand, where the collisions were explosive, and there was no drop off. England can be so much more explosive at the breakdown than they have been so far, but the truth is that it hurts. It is a massive physical and mental challenge, but you have to relish going there.
With England at No.2 in the world the bar has gone up – and now it’s a question of putting right the things that are stopping them from becoming No.1.
This season the focus in the media has changed from Eddie Jones’ claim that they had made a 20 per cent gain in fitness to how many games they have gone uinbeaten. However the head coach will still have one big message for his team behind closed doors, which is that they cannot sustain intensity for 80 minutes without being incredibly fit – and I don’t believe that England will be the best side in the world until they are the fittest.
Overall, the England forwards have gone quite well so far without Haskell and Itoje, and George Ford and Farrell continue to improve as a 10-12 partnership. It would be good to see Ford make a few more breaks, but I want to see more of Ben Te’o. The controlled intensity Te’o can bring with his size and power presents England with a different attacking dynamic, which can only be beneficial.
The pressure from unbeaten runs just ratchets up and up, and that’s why sometimes losing a big game can be a blessing. It would be incredibly annoying and frustrating for England to lose to Australia, with the downside that your credibility drops instantly. Even the All Blacks were questioned after their record 18 match winning run ended in Chicago.
However, I don’t expect England’s winning run to come to an end against Australia. The Wallabies have the ability and know- how to get a result, but on home ground at Twickenham I expect England to find energy levels we haven’t seen from them yet this autumn.
