SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: England must restart aimless kicks, but I will never complain about the victory in Wales

This was certainly not a classic, but England have endured enough bad experiences against underdog Welsh teams over the years to know it was a banana peel they urgently needed to avoid.

Owen Farrell and his team did quite well, they didn’t give Wales enough space or possession to really smell an unexpected victory, and I’m from the generation of English rugby players who never complain about a win over Bridge. They are always hard earned.

England want to win the Autumn Cup and played the rugby tournament on Saturday night, but they will still know that a huge improvement will be required to win the final next week when they can look forward to taking on France in full force.

England were forced to fight from a losing position to beat Wales on Saturday afternoon.

England’s kicks at times made no sense and must improve for their clash with France

That will be the defining game this fall for both sides, the first in a series of titanic clashes I suspect between old adversaries leading up to the 2023 World Cup. It is important that England finish the job in style.

This was a strange game, mostly a complete reversal of Ireland’s match last week when England had little possession or territory, certainty in the second half, but was more than happy to defend and control the game through their physique and collision domain and rigging area.

This time England had an excess of possession and, at times, it almost seemed like an embarrassment of the ball and the different options available confused them a bit.

There were some good attacking moments, but still too many aimless kicks. Everyone says it’s the modern way, but it doesn’t always suit me. It’s not just box kicks, it’s tennis kick jousting and the lack of skill and direction of many kicks.

Wins over Wales are very close and there aren’t too many complaints about a win there

A French team in full force awaits England in the final of the Fall Nations Cup next week.

Kicks need to be more positive, proactive and accurate, England need to use much more kick pass, dink behind defenses and grass kick when kicking long to embarrass and convert defense. Don’t return three to the opposition for these easy catches and punts.

There was a moment early in the second half, about 150 feet from the Wales line, when England secured possession of the ball first and had players flooding the channel from the blind side. Ben Youngs, like on autopilot, threw a box kick to the corner.

That was the moment to mercilessly pass the ball through the hands and score seven points. To do that, you need to change your mindset.

Wales can draw positives from their performances after suffering bad luck on Saturday

So England have that to work on and I think an improved Wales can prepare for their final game with a lot of positivity. Not that I ever thought they would win, or deserve to win, but they were unlucky last night.

Henry Slade’s attempt certainly came after Dan Biggar was illegally tackled mid-air in preparation.

Where England are very good at present is at the lineout, where Joe Launchbury and Maro Itoje had their usual impressive games with Tom Curry, moving but often operating at the front of the line, beginning to emerge as England’s third choice, lo which is important for the side makeup.