England will finish the year on a winning note unless Samoa, vanquished by Romania in Bucharest on Saturday, produce the result of the decade. Unbeaten in their first year under Eddie Jones, they have lost only against Ireland in 2017 without, Scotland at home apart, producing an entirely compelling performance. Jones will not mind, counting down as he is to the 2019 World Cup; he is completing a jigsaw puzzle, adding pieces each game. Against Argentina, England were largely on the front foot, building patiently, if unspectacularly, almost rigid in their approach. On Saturday, they played more off the back foot, absorbing pressure and feeding off mistakes. Performances should be looked at collectively rather than in isolation: in the past two weeks England have shown defensive resilience and opportunism in attack, buoyed against Australia by the return of Maro Itoje, a multi-faceted player whose decision‑making is invariably spot-on. He had been on the field only a few seconds when he spotted a run by Kurtley Beale and hauled down the full‑back before he had got into his stride. For all their strength in depth they have no one to match him.
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