One of the greatest days in English rugby history

England were very good indeed and have left me looking rather silly. That’s because of my last contribution here which was given the headline “Why the awe-inspiring All Blacks are so difficult to beat”. In self-defence I might say that they have been that for much of their history, and especially in recent years. On Saturday, however, England were awesome. They took a grip on the match in the first minute and scarcely ever relaxed it. It would be an exaggeration to say the All Blacks were awful, but not much of one to suggest that England made them look rather poor.

You kept thinking – or at least I did – that the All Blacks would get a grip of themselves, but even when England in a rare moment of carelessness or aberration gifted them a soft try, any thought of a New Zealand rally was abruptly snuffed out. In the end it was surprising that England won by only 12 points and that they didn’t score a try after the second minute of the match, for the All Blacks had been comprehensively dismantled, baffled and bewildered by the speed, intensity and efficiency of England’s game. Given the quality and the record of the opposition, this must rank as one of the greatest days in English rugby history.

England have had many good days since Eddie Jones became their coach after the unhappy 2015 World Cup, but, almost as often, they have promised more than they delivered. What makes this team different from most England teams since they won the World Cup in 2003 is that they have now have two genuine flankers capable of defending and winning ball at the breakdown. These youngsters, Sam Underhill and Tom Curry, have made the difference. Clive Woodward’s 2003 team had Neil Back and Richard Hill, and England have had nobody as good since. Now they do. For years in the Six Nations England have often come off second best at the breakdown, especially against Wales; not now.

Selection is the most important part of a coach’s job. Eddie Jones got his selection right. New Zealand’s Steve Hansen astonishingly got his wrong, preferring to field a lock, Scott Barrett, on the flank, instead of Sam Kane, earmarked four years ago as Richie McCaw’s heir. It would be absurd to say this cost New Zealand the match, but, faced with Underhill and Curry, it made it more difficult for them to win it.

Then Jones got his midfield right. The return to full fitness of Manu Tuilagi after successive injuries and years of absence has been a stroke of luck, but the restoration of the Ford-Farrell axis was a piece of good judgement. I have always thought Farrell a better 12 than 10, but there are many English fans, and some pundits, who have judged Ford to be too small and light for the modern power game. Yet Ford is the best game manager England have had available at fly-half since Jonny Wilkinson or before him Rob Andrew. His judgement of when to kick, when to pass and when to run is now well-nigh impeccable, and when he is on song, England play in the right areas of the field. It helps, I think, that he has been playing his club rugby in a Leicester side that has often been struggling, because he has learned how to play and control the game when under pressure. Of course with this England team he can play on the front foot and run the show. On Saturday he did this wonderfully well.

What is delightful is that this England team plays 15-man rugby and does it at pace; there’s no stuff it up the jumper stuff, no slowing of the game to make power tell. There’s structure certainly, but a sense of adventure too. Nothing could be more stupid than to revive the old cry of “boring England”. For followers of the other Six Nations countries admiration is inevitably tinged with apprehension. If they can make the All Blacks look like a rabble, what will they do to us?

And so to the final: Warren Gatland has mischievously wondered whether England may have peaked a week too soon. It’s unlikely, but possible. It has happened before. In 1995 New Zealand looked unbeatable when, with Jonah Lomu on the rampage, they demolished England. But they didn’t carry their superlatives-earning form to the final.

And who beat them then? South Africa, England’s opponents this Saturday. Still that’s no reason for a shiver to run up or down English spines. Circumstances were very different. Not only were South Africa the home team then, but it was their first World Cup since the end of apartheid, the birth of the Rainbow Nation, even if there was only one player of colour in the Springbok team. But there was also Nelson Mandela, symbol of the new South Africa, Nelson Mandela wearing a Springbok jersey – the jersey held in reverence by Afrikaners. It was a match New Zealand were expected to win, but one that South Africa had to win.

There is none of that this time. It’s the World Cup final, but it’s just a rugby match. And yet there is a link to that 1995 final. The Springbok team really is now representative of the Rainbow Nation, and if there is no Mandela to wear a Springbok jersey as a symbol of what the new South Africa should be, today’s Springboks have a black captain, the impressive Siya Kolisi, selected for rugby, not political, reasons by a white coach, Rassie Erasmus.

It promises to be a fascinating game. The two semi-final matches were very different, a reminder that there is, happily, more than one way to play rugby. England played with audacity and a sense of adventure, South Africa played a dour game, based on power and the intelligent kicking of their excellent halves, Handre Pollard, and the livewire Faf de Klerk who is so small you might think Maro Itoje could pick him up with one hand and tuck him under his arm. (Nevertheless de Klerk has been one of the brightest stars of this tournament, a player I love watching.)

As so often the game may turn on the battle of the back-rows, and if England’s – Sam Underhill, Billy Vunipola, and Tom Curry – is exceptional, South Africa’s – Kolisi, Duane Vermeulen and Pieter-Steph du Toit – has been mighty impressive.

England are favourites, deservedly, but this South African team has all the old Springbok virtues; it plays to its strength, is mentally hard, very powerful and tough as teak. It should be quite a match, and let’s hope it’s not made lop-sided by a red card being issued to anyone.