State of the Nation: England’s series win in Australia lays solid foundations as Rugby World Cup hopes given boost

Now that the 2022 July internationals are wrapped up, we delve into the state of affairs in each of the northern hemisphere nations. First up, England.

A three-match tour of Australia on the back of the longest ever Premiership season was always going to test both the depth and the fitness of the England squad.

After a confusing Six Nations campaign where they finished third, travelling down under with a litany of unavailable players against one of the big southern hemisphere three was always going to be a challenge, but with that came the opportunity of rebalancing the squad with both youth and recalled experience.

Areas of concern included the set-piece and breakdown, together with a worry about the lack of power running at England‘s disposal, both in midfield and in the back five of the pack, with questions also asked about the fluidity and shape of the English attack.

However, Eddie Jones once again came good, winning two from three, a return that, given the unavailability situation, sheer player fatigue and questionable Six Nations form, was substantially above par, despite Jones losing his much-coveted clean sweep record against his birth country as England coach.

His selection was intelligent, pragmatic and focused. We saw the recall of the Vunipola brothers and Danny Care – three proven Test quality player; the re-emergence of Owen Farrell as the vital midfield influence alongside the ever-improving Marcus Smith. Couple this with the return from injury by Jonny Hill and the welcome addition of youngsters such as Henry Arundell, Tommy Freeman and Guy Porter and you’ll conclude that Jones knows a lot more about his 2023 Rugby World Cup squad than he did at the end of June.

The biggest gain was that of physicality;