After the pain of their opening defeat to Scotland, Sunday’s win over Italy was just what England needed to get their Six Nations campaign back on track.
Eddie Jones had told his side he wanted them to “light up Rome” and, while they weren’t at their flowing best, England still ran in five tries to secure the bonus-point victory that lifts them up to second in the championship.
“You always want more,” said Jones. “You always want a few more sparklers, a few more rockets.
“But we went out with the strong intent of taking the game to Italy and not allowing them into the game.”
England certainly didn’t give Italy a sniff and the fact they scored 33 unanswered points will have pleased Jones. Against Scotland, his side’s discipline slipped and it cost them, but in Rome they were squeaky clean.
The attack was not as consistent, however there were moments where it sparkled and lived up to its tag of ‘new England’.
Unsurprisingly, Marcus Smith was at the heart of it and with each start the 23-year-old gets at fly-half this team is being built in his image.
Smith got England on their way with some lovely link-play out wide with Max Malins and from there he took the game by the scuff of his neck. His fingerprints were all over England’s tries, which saw Jamie George score twice and Elliot Daly and Kyle Sinckler go over too.
George’s second try included a delightful looped pass by fellow front-rower Ellis Genge, who will no doubt dine out on that for years to come, but shortly after half-time Smith trumped it. Receiving the ball off a scrum, the fly-half fizzed a pass straight to Daly, who didn’t need to break stride as he strolled over the line to score.
“There’s no ceiling to how good he can be,” said Jones, when discussing Smith. “If he keeps on wanting to get better and keeps having a learning mindset, then he could be an outstanding player at Test level by the World Cup.”
Having been 26-0 to the good with 36 minutes to go, you expected England to land the knockout blow - particularly after Jones had urged them to channel their inner Muhammad Ali.
Smith certainly took that advice, floating around the Rome turf like a butterfly, but Italy’s stubborn defence meant a fifth try didn’t come until the final 10 minutes.
Nonetheless, this was a pleasing afternoon’s work for England and the ideal tonic ahead of a showdown with Wales at Twickenham next week.
Jones has plenty of food for thought ahead of that now, with Alex Dombrandt impressing at No8 and Harry Randall putting pressure on Ben Youngs for the scrum-half spot.
Courtney Lawes and Manu Tuilagi could also be back for the clash with Wales, which would give Jones more options - but also further selection headaches.
One area, however, where there is no debate over who starts is fly-half. Smith, who celebrates his 23rd birthday today, has made the No10 jersey his own after just seven Tests for England.
The hype and expectation will only continue to grow but, as Jones said, the sky is the limit for Smith and England should just sit back and enjoy the ride.
