Sunday 30 November 2014 14:34, UK
Stuart Lancaster admits England's 26-17 victory over Australia at Twickenham does not make his side the finished article but believes he has a great platform to build on ahead of the World Cup.
Gloucester No 8 Ben Morgan scored both England tries on Saturday and a dominant pack nullified the threat of Australia, who stayed in the game courtesy of scores from Bernard Foley and Will Skelton.
In next year's World Cup, England host the Wallabies in a Pool A showdown on October 3 on the very same stage and Lancaster was delighted to gain a psychological edge, despite there being no room for complacency.
We have learnt a lot and we know we will face some tough games in the Six Nations, but injury-permitting we will be able to field the side we want to come the New Year.
“It’s great to finish on a win but we still have a lot to work on, we know that,” Lancaster told Sky Sports.
“We have some good players to come back into the equation as we build up towards the Six Nations.”
England suffered a series whitewash at the hands of world champions New Zealand in the summer and were narrowly edged out again by the All Blacks earlier in the month, but Lancaster believes his side are learning their lessons.
“I think the difference between this game and the first game was that we played intelligently,” he added.
“We kicked the ball at the right time, we put them under pressure and used our set-piece well and the boys stuck to the plan and it paid off.”
In recent weeks some critics have suggested that England are becoming too heavily-reliant on the scrum and line-out, but Lancaster was quick to offer a firm response to his naysayers.
“I would say we in the last year we have scored 26 tries and 21 of those have come from our backs,” he said.
“The whole scrum was excellent today, and the mauling. You have to play the game in different ways and when you have strength like we have – you add in the Vunipolas, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Joe Launchbury and Geoff Parling – you have a good pack there.”
He added: “I wouldn’t like to think we are just going to become a set-piece side because you are bound to come up against scrums that can match you.
“We still want to develop all areas of our game and I think what let us down in the matches against New Zealand and South Africa was our game management in the middle of the field.
“Our kicking accuracy was excellent today and by-and-large we got our decision-making right. Australia are a very good attacking side and they stretched us at times, but I thought our game management was much better today.”
Lancaster was full of praise for double try-scorer Morgan and the half-back pairing of George Ford and Ben Youngs, who played so well against Samoa last weekend they kept regulars Owen Farrell and Danny Care out of the starting XV.
“I think the (Nos) 8, 9 (and) 10 have really stood out for me,” he said. “I thought Ben Morgan – obviously he didn’t start in the first two games – but he has been exceptional.
“Ben Youngs has come in and taken a real leadership role and I thought George Ford’s kicking accuracy was exceptional and his decision-making again was good.
“On the wings, Jonny May is growing in confidence and Anthony Watson’s emergence is another positive. The strength in depth has built and we continue from here.”
Reflecting on the autumn series as a whole, Lancaster said: “I think it’s taught us a lot.
“We have learnt a lot and we know we will face some tough games in the Six Nations, but injury-permitting we will be able to field the side we want to come the New Year.”
It’s great to finish like that and we want to thank everyone who has stood by us and supported us. We’re looking forward to the Six Nations from here.
Captain Chris Robshaw, who was at the heart of the dominant England pack, was relieved to end the autumn series on a high.
“It’s been a tough four weeks but I am so proud of all the boys, how they have stuck together and worked for each other,” he told Sky Sports.
“We’ve simplified things over these last two weeks and I think you saw that today, our way of playing was a lot more fluid than it has been.”
England’s set-piece success – winning 10 out of 11 scrums and 12 line-outs – paved the platform for victory and Robshaw hailed the efforts of his fellow forwards.
“We’re extremely proud of our pack here and the way they have dealt with a number of teams coming to Twickenham lately,” he added. “There are areas of our game which we know we must improve, but again they put their hand up and won a number of penalties for us, hats off to the front five.
“It’s great to finish like that and we want to thank everyone who has stood by us and supported us. We’re looking forward to the Six Nations from here.”
