England have built on their performances week to week throughout this tournament and yesterday’s display was a continuation of the forward pressure and dominance that they showed against Ireland a fortnight ago.
The big difference two weeks on is that the good forward pressure earned them territory and enabled them to play in the right positions resulting in good tries from the backs.
I talked about wanting to see more strikes from set moves and Anthony Watson’s opening try was superbly constructed and executed.
That for me was almost total rugby. It was clean set-piece delivery from the lineout, a good contest in the maul, a decisive inside pass, good running lines from Watson and his decoy runners finished off with skill.
The decoy runs all have to offer the necessary deception and then the ball carrier has to beat the first defender which Watson did well before showing his gas, fend and quick feet to get away and finish off past Liam Williams.
I love that – creative attacking moves to out-think defences – and I want to see more of it in top-level rugby. It was a brilliant play, brilliantly executed.
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