Stuart Lancaster to sleep well after hugely improved England's showing against Ireland back-row trio lead the way in decisive win

• England impressed as they beat Ireland 21-13 on Saturday at Twickenham
• Their first half performance was top drawer against a quality Ireland team
• Form of back row trio was impressive as part of a better front-five display
• Jonny May and Anthony Watson excellent in their own ways on the wings
• Enjoyed the variety England showed, typified by Ford's kick for Watson
• England need to work on clinical passing when in scoring positions 

By Sir Clive Woodward for the Mail on Sunday

Published: 16:35 EST, 5 September 2015 | Updated: 04:04 EST, 7 September 2015

Stuart Lancaster and England will have slept well on Saturday night. That performance was so much better than Paris two weeks ago and I would not change the starting XV for the World Cup opener against Fiji.

Much of the rugby England produced in a fine first half was top drawer and although the intensity slipped a little after half time and there is plenty to work on, the positives still shone through brightly.

Remember this was a quality Ireland team - ranked third in the world and Six Nations champions -who were never going to just roll over. It was also important to expunge the memory of that poor England performance and defeat in Dublin earlier this year because these two could meet in the World Cup semi-final next month.

England celebrate Anthony Watson's try in their 21-13 win over Ireland that was much improved on Paris

Stuart Lancaster addresses his players after the win and all of them slept well after the performance

Lancaster shakes hands with his captain, Chris Robshaw, as they acknowledge a job well done in London

Jonny May, who has added power to his pace and defensive nous to his attacking flair, and Anthony Watson will probably get the headiness and they were both excellent in their different ways. The biggest bonus for me, however, was the form of the back row trio and that came directly off the back of a much improved front-five display.

Ultimately, front fives win World Cups and England have the potential to really boss teams. They still need to crank it up a few notches but this was much better.

We know Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood have high tackle counts and are Trojan workers but for the first time in a while we saw them do what they do best in attack - picking good lines, making the hard yards and offloading.

Both are infinitely more effective going forward when they don’t go to ground, when they stand up strong and either off-load or England regroup around them. It’s when England unnecessarily go to the floor that it starts getting messy and they get turned over.

Ben Morgan was also impressive at No 8 which is another big plus. For me, he has done enough to earn the start over Billy Vunipola against Fiji and that would be great credit to him.

Jonny May, celebrating England's first try, added power to his pace and defensive nous to his attacking flair

Anthony Watson too was impressive in his own way and scored an outstanding try from George Ford's kick

When Morgan snapped his leg playing for Gloucester back in January, life must have seemed very bleak but he looks a particularly hungry player to me.

He has made a huge effort to get back in time and is clearly massively up for this World Cup.

Vunipola had a better game when he came on yesterday. England seem set on using their bench extensively and if that is the case he is one of those who is genuinely capable of making an impact when he comes on as a replacement.

Geoff Parling stays in the starting line-up at second row and I say that as a big fan of Joe Launchbury. Parling calms the lineout down a bit, is a good communicator and clearly works well with his former Tigers clubmate Tom Youngs.

Launchbury, who has also worked wonders to get back from injury, has the all-round game to make a difference when he comes on. He will also get stronger as the tournament progresses.

Tom Wood, along with Robshaw, added hard yards and offloading to their typically Trojan-like defence

No 8 Ben Morgan has made a huge effort to get back from injury and is clearly massively up for the World Cup

Elsewhere, England were fresh and energised after a heavy-legged performance in Paris where they came off a big training block.

You could see they had tapered off for this game.

I really enjoyed the variety England showed, which was typified by that exceptional cross-field kick by George Ford and brilliant take by Watson for England’s second try. Great kicking can be such a strong attacking weapon. Execute a move like that and it’s almost impossible to defend against.

The Ireland full back Simon Zebo is actually very good under the high ball but the precision of Ford’s kick isolated him before Watson had the angle — and the athleticism — to make it count. Superb.

You will rarely see a better try of its kind which is why it looked relatively simple.

George Ford's exceptional cross-field kick for England's second try typified his side efforts on Saturday

Watson and Simon Zebo, who's good under the high ball, compete with the England winger winning to score

The path Ford's outstanding kick took to find his Bath team-mate in the corner on the right wing for five points

Things to work on? Clinical passing when in scoring positions.

At least two tries went begging out there with a forward pass from Tom Youngs and wayward pass from Owen Farrell.

That’s 10, maybe 14, cast-iron points. You don’t always need wonder passes, just do the basics well in these situations and tries will come.

Generally, though, this was very good. Get a couple of days rest now and then it’s all systems go.

This England team can comprehensively deal with Fiji in 12 days and start building the momentum that can be so hard to stop at a home World Cup.

Comments (48)

Share what you think

• Newest
• Oldest
• Best rated
• Worst rated

 View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

 View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now