How good were England?

First topic message reminder :

Not a WUM as I have not managed to see the game. Had they not been as dominant in the Scrum as seems to be the case did they show anything else that would indicate their continued progress.

The brief clips I have seen have all been Scrums and it was a complete demolition, the sort of dominance that limits the oppositons ability to do anything at all, secure ball, establish territory, attack. There is being on top and then there is a complete smashing and it looked like that is what happened here. Please do not think that I am indulging in back handed critisism as I love a good scrummage and appreciate the application of power and technique that such dominance requires. However unless this unit really does develop the ability to smash allcomers, what else was there to celebrate. Was it a better all round performance than delivered against Wales and France.

I looking forward to next year already it will be fascinating

personally i take an overview of rugby-I will totally admit that i am not the most knowledable rugby fan out there when it comes to individual players- but i know my teams and how they go about the game. I thought SL deserved massive praise after the scotland game- because he did what others havent for a long time- which is an overview rather than nitpicking details. I thought we then improved ten fold in the second half v italy, so i thought- he is still doing his job and well. He then raised the bar again v wales to a tight loss, and raised agian and again!

I will be happy if SL stays, conversly i will also be happy if he goes as long as the England team keep playing with the same passion as they have exhibited recently.

I honestly believe this year is more ogf a success than last year even though we didnt win the 6n's

As fans and players and as a team we are collectively happier, and as long as results keep going our way that isnt gonna change!

The truth is, as an England supporter, this 6N has been a fun ride. We went in with practically zero expectations and and by the end were very happy how this totally untested setup had acquitted itself and with the real prospect that change was in the air. No bad place to be after the chaos of the last few months in particular. If Lancaster gets the job (and it's still a big IF) we have the nucleus of an emerging England side that could be around for a good long time. There are skills issues and some personnel queries that need attention but you get the feeling that this group of players are willing to listen and learn and are capable of development. Sure they have done well but this has been the easy bit in the sense that they have enjoyed a fair bit of luck in the order games have come and that they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Now they have to kick on and that's going to be tough. They are not good enough on the world stage yet and will be sorely tested in SA. My fear is that this early dawn may not be followed by an immediately bright day. There are going to be some storms along the way and nobody knows yet whether Lancaster will continue to bring in form young players into the setup and thereby develop a big enough player pool to draw on. Equally we don't know if the coaching setup will have the skill set to develop a much more rounded game.

There's certainly the promise of good things to come but no more than that.