Fan View: Great Expectations upon England as Autumn Series ignites with win over Wallabies

. Great expectations indeed.

Much of the talk between the amateur pub pundits pre-game was around Steve Borthwick's selection and his comments in the week around Harry Wilson’s breakdown etiquette.

Rugby is a game stuck in two eras; the old boys who thought the England coaches' words ‘weren’t cricket’, and the modern Erasmus style fans who wants to win at all costs. I find myself in the latter camp who believes a bit of pre-match niggle and back and forth with an old enemy can only be a good thing for the sport and the spectacle.

England’s gameplan was made clear with Borthwick’s backline selection, kick, kick, and kick again. With this in mind there were some nervous glances exchanged as the heavens opened as we made our way to our seats. What we feared came to pass in the first 20 minutes so much so that Freddie Steward's first clean catch was greeted with sarcastic cheers 18 minutes in.

One thing that didn’t lack quality was the defence, both teams were hurling themselves into tackles and breakdowns with little to no regard for their own safety. The crowd winced and 'ooohed' with approval after each monstrous impact echoed around HQ.

The game, and the crowd, truly came to life after Ben Earl’s opening try following some brilliant work from Tom Roebuck under the high ball. All grumbles over tactics ceased as Earl accelerated away from the Australian defence.

Harry Potter apparated into the game with an incredible try saving tackle preventing Earl’s second of the afternoon. No more than 60 seconds later Potter intercepted Fraser Dingwall’s misguided pass and took it the length of the field to bring the visitors to within three points of England at the break. The pockets of Aussies around the stadium rightfully took this opportunity to stick it to us poms in a playful australian manner.

You might not have guessed that England were 10-7 up at halftime with the chats going at the bar. Many patrons could be overheard critiquing the lack of ‘joue’ and ‘boring Borthwick’. This criticism is understandable, wanting to be entertained with the average ticket now costing north of £100.

However, with this Autumn series having such a huge impact on World Cup seeding and pools for 2027, winning ugly now is far more important for England’s chances at the big one than playing Harlequin-esque rugby and losing beautifully. The last thing any England fan wants is a 2015 style group of death, I’d watch a thousand box kicks to avoid that pain again.

The second half was much like the first with the defence and intensity the highlight of the first 20 minutes. The loudest cheer of the half so far and maybe the game was for the introduction of Borthwick’s ‘Pom Squad’. Five forwards, five Lions, off the bench after 50 minutes played must’ve had the Wallabies having flashbacks to the summer. Maybe Borthwick really is Rassie in disguise.

Their impact was immediately felt, Alex Mitchell's next box kick was greeted with some groans and boos from my section but these quickly turned into cheers as Henry Pollock produced a stunning one-handed pickup and cruised over line to have the fat lady warming up her vocal cords.

Two more late tries from driving mauls finished off the tired looking Wallablies. Luke Cowan-Dickies’ 25 metre driving maul try hammered home the impact and depth available to Borthwick. Genge, Stuart, Pollock, and Curry are exactly the calibre of players you want coming off the bench for the last half an hour of a test and the cheer that greeted them shows the fans know it too. The ruthlessness needed at the elite level is hard to find but when fit England now boast a full 23 of world class players.

The game ended to rapturous renditions of ‘swing low sweet chariot’ following a 30 man brawl as the clock went red. All thoughts of negativity and the critiques of armchair tacticos were drowned out by those wonderful words swirling with the wind around the iconic stadium.

One quote stuck with me from a fan I met in the Guinness tent afterwards. He said ‘I’ve been coming here for forty years, and today is the first time I never considered us losing a possibility’